Vandread Stage 2: Crimson Justice
by Myevltwin
Summary: The Freedom has been destroyed, taking with it, Alex. Though his death was morned by all, the Harvesters care not for his death, and time must continue to flow forward. The Justice must now take up where its twin left off.
1. I plead the fifth

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 1 I plead the fifth

"Three more coming left." a male said. The machine he was piloting was duel wielding a pair of triple band held Gattling guns. The armor was a dark grey or green. Yes, it was HeavyArms Kai. And it was leading a large fleet of Zaku Gunners against a large fleet of Cube Types. The mini fleet was tearing everything apart with deadly accuracy.

"I see them." a female replied. The machine she was piloting had white and blue armor and a pair of Heat Shotel's that she was using to slice the enemy in half. Yes, the machine she was using was Sandrock Kai. She was leading a platoon of Space Leo Suits and Gouf Ignited's into battle.

"There sure are a lot of them." Another female remarked. The machine she was piloting had all green armor and was using large dragon head tentacles to bite the enemy in half. Anything that got to close to her however, was met with her deadly Twin Beam Trident. Yes, she was piloting Altron, or as she called it, Nataku. She was leading two platoons of Phantom Zaku's and Serpent suits into battle.

"Just remember, these enemies are not to be underestimated, Suki." The male stated. He made quick work of three more carriers with hidden compartments that opened up to reveal a large hoard of missiles.

"Yes my Dearest, I understand." The pilot for Nataku replied. Suki sliced two more Dita clones in half while releasing her Dragon Fang to snap a Meia clone in half. "Willow, three more, coming from behind you!"

Sandrock spun around to slice them in half before using its Vulcan Cannons to destroy another wave of enemies. "Thank you, Suki." She replied.

"This would be a lot easier if Raider was here." The male said, flying beside the three.

"Look at it this way, he's not here to be angry about "Kill Stealing" or some shit like that, Blood." Willow stated while slashing two more Cubes in half.

"True, but it would still be easier if he was here to help us out." Blood, the pilot for HeavyArms replied. He shot down eighteen Cubes with one quick blast of his Triple Band Held Gattling Gun.

"Commander Isenberg, we've detected another Ship heading this way. We've also detected multiple heat signatures being deployed from within the ship." A male screamed. "Sir, they'll be all over us in… are you sure?" This got Blood's attention rather fast. "You can't be serious! Sir, we've detected the Wing Zero heading this way! Alex is leading a group of… are you sure about that?" He paused again. "Sir, Alex is leading a group of Dreads and one strange blue machine bringing up the rear."

"Understood." Blood turned switched his radio to a different channel. "It looks like our new found friends have finally arrived."

"So it would appear." Suki replied.

"What do you propose we do?" Willow asked. "We certainly have to keep his death, supposing he did die, a secrete for the time being."

"Clear this place of hostiles." Blood commanded. "So long as the soldiers don't see the pilot fighting, then they won't know that he might be dead." He finished by blasting three more Cubes with his Gattling guns.

(-)

"Looks like they're speeding up the fight." Maya announced. Meia blinked in surprise as she stared at the little AI that was now her Co-Pilot. "That can only mean they are aware of our presence and want to finish things up before we arrive. Chances are, they think we might be with the enemy."

"What are you doing in here?" Meia finally asked. 

"The closer we are to the colony, the better chances I have at accessing any new information the colony has come across on our enemy, or new weapons they've made." She admitted. "Besides, from what I've deciphered so far, they seem to have some information on Alex's death. Meaning, they know he's not piloting this machine." She warned.

"Meaning that they'll shoot me down on sight?" She asked.

"No, they won't do such a thing in front of their own soldiers. You will however be arrested. That much, I am quite certain of." She replied

"So I have nothing to worry about?" She asked in an icy tone. The AI bobbed up and down as if to nod her head. "What about the Dreads?"

"They should be okay, but the Vanguard will not. So long as the two do not separate, then he should be okay." Maya stated.

"So we just need to make sure that Hibiki remains combined with Dita to insure he survives?" Once again, the AI bobbed up and down as if to nod. "Alright…"

(-)

"Mr. Alien, what do you think Alex's people are like?" Dita asked. Hibiki thought about that for a moment before opening his mouth to speak.

"Dita, Hibiki." Meia interrupted him. "You two have got too remained combined until we can get to the colony and help. If you disassemble, then you might get shot down. Understand?"

Hibiki gulped as he said, "Yeah, gotcha" as he squeezed Dita's hands a little tighter. Dita blushed at the contact, but decided not to say anything about it.

(-)

"Only eight more Carriers." Suki said while slicing two of the Carriers in half with her beam Trident. "How much longer until they arrive?"

"About another twenty seconds before they're here." Blood replied in a nonchalant tone. He too made quick work of two Carriers, but he did so with his Gattling guns. "We need to speed this up if we can." He stated.

"Damn it, I can already see the Wing Zero!" Willow cursed as she slashed two more Carriers. "We need to take out those last four Carriers before they get here!" She yelled. Blood opened every compartment on his machine, shocking a few of the pilots he was leading. With a quick targeting selection, he opened fire on the last four Carriers. Every missile and bullet fired slammed into the Carriers. When the dust cloud vanished, one lone Carrier remained, but badly beaten. The Cubes around were staying within a certain range, before a large beam of energy smashed into the Carrier from behind, killing it, and the Cubes in a large explosion.

_Damn it all, now they know he's not piloting it!_ Suki yelled in her head. She stared up at the Wing Zero, sporting its massive Twin Buster Rifle in one hand. "Now what?" She whispered. All Channels had been activated, and everyone could hear what she said.

"All units, return to the hanger and call the security force. We have a prisoner to bring in." Blood commanded.

(-)

"You idiot, I told you not to fire that weapon!" Maya yelled. Meia blinked as she stared at the AI. What did she do wrong? She killed the enemy, what else was there to it? "You see those three machines over there?" A small screen popped up on her main screen, revealing the three machines. "They were the ones to help in teaching Alex how to pilot this machine! They know how he fights when in this machine! What you just did alerted them that you are not him!"

"What's the worst they can do? You said they won't shoot me!" She snapped.

"I said so long as you fight like Alex would have! He always gave you a warning before he fired that weapon! You didn't even given them a single hint that were about to use it!" The AI snapped back. HeavyArms appeared in front of them, pointing its weapons at them. "Meia, slowly let go of the rifle, and then pull out and let the beam sabers go." Maya ordered slowly. Meia nodded slowly as she released the said weapons.

_Odd, it released all its weapons. I wonder if the pilot is in fact Alex. Never the less, it's a potential treat. _Blood thought. He pulled the trigger and fired at the blue machine.

"What the hell is it doing to us?!" Meia yelled as she tried to maneuver the machine. "He jammed everything, I can't move!" She yelled.

"_Damn you!" _Hibiki yelled. Meia blinked in surprise as Vandread Dita appeared in front of them with its cannons ready. HeavyArms sidestepped the two tubes of energy and slammed a knee into the chest of the machine. Hibiki coughed hard as the wind left his and Dita's lungs.

"_I don't know who you are, but if you wanna live, you'll be following me." _Blood said over the net.

"That would be Isenberg Royal Blood." Maya whispered.

"_I suggest you not try something that stupid again… that is… if you wanna live anyways." _

"Follow the machine." Meia blinked as she looked at the floating AI. "If you don't, he'll kill us. I don't want to die, and I'm sure you don't either. So follow him and don't resist anything then try to do to us."

"_You want us to do what?!" _Hibiki coughed.

"Just trust me!" Maya snapped. "He won't do anything so long as you reframe from pissing him off anymore then what you already have!"

With a heavy sigh, the two machines followed the dark grey machine. Hibiki was still coughing from the kick, but was able to pilot the combination towards the colony. A strange gold machine and red machine helped in escorting them to a hanger that was holding Sandrock and Nataku already. Wing Zero walked over to a pair of restraint s that clamped down on its shoulders and legs to hold it while it was standing up. Vandread Dita was also put in the same restraints.

"Now what?" Meia asked, not very impressed with her situation.

"Open up right now, or we will destroy you!" some voices barked. Meia rolled her eyes as she opened the hatch. A pair of hands grabbed her and pinned her to the ground.

"Hold it!" Maya snapped. The soldiers looked up at the AI as it flew over to Meia. "This pilot is with me. If you harm her in any way, I will have her boyfriends' mother, Asaugi, to strike you down." She threatened.

"Silence, Maya!" The Soldiers snapped. "You will be checked over for any reprogramming they have done to you! So stop trying to boss us around!"

"Maya, it's okay." Meia groaned. "You said it yourself they wouldn't kill us until they questioned us about our involvement with the colony destructions." She reminded. The AI floated beside her friend as she followed the three men holding her towards Dita and Hibiki, who were now both restrained by two guards each. "You both alright?" Meia asked.

"Yeah, but these damn guards are a little…" Hibiki couldn't finish his pent of wrath as one of the guards kicked him in the back. Hibiki growled as he crashed to the ground.

"So, you are the pilot for Wing Zero." A familiar voice said. The three pilots turned to see the man they had ordered them to follow him or be destroyed. He was wearing a black armor suit like Alex's, only it was covered in a spider web like pattern of dark purple lines. His helmet was gone, revealing lightly tanned skin. He had grey colored eyes, with his left eye having a long scar across it. He had dark brown hair that was chopped short.

"Commander Isenberg, we have the prisoners as you ordered."

"I can see that, Kyle." He growled. The men backed away slightly. "I'll escort you to the holding…"

"I'll take them to their holding cell." A female stated, walking up to the crew in a golden version of Alex's armor.

"Zoey." Blood stated. The men all gulped as she walked over to the prisoners. "I believe I'll take them to the holding cell. I believe you have something more important to…"

"I'll be taking them while you escort the ships' Captain that housed them to Commander Asaugi. These orders come from Asaugi, herself."

Blood growled as he nodded to the men to give them to Zoey. The men all narrowed their eyes at her, but a quick gunshot, and a girly scream from one of the guards, had them handing over the three pilots.

"Thank you." She sang as she trotted off with the three pilots in tow. The men all snorted at her retreating form, but another gunshot had them quivering in fear as they hid behind a grumbling Blood.

(-)

Hibiki grumbled as he continued to stare at the back of Zoey's suit. She had been leading them around in circles it seemed. Hibiki wondered if she even knew where she was going when she walked into a few strange rooms that had him wishing someone would remove his eyes. She had yet to say anything, and yet she had almost said a mouth full when she fired off her handgun twice in row at two other soldiers that seemed to think she was stupid.

"Here we are." She finally said, walking into a white room with a simple brown desk and four chairs. Three were up front while one was behind the desk. "Please take a seat, I'll be right back." She sang.

Hibiki, Dita, and Meia all blinked in surprise as she left the room. They looked at each other, then down at their hands, which were no longer cuffed, and then down at the chairs.

"Is she retarded?" Hibiki finally asked. A loud gunshot rang out in the hallway. Hibiki jumped into his chair and started mumbling something about crazy women.

"Well, this is going to be fun." Meia moaned as she took a seat. "I wonder how long she'll be gone."

"She won't be gone long. She never keeps people waiting… unless you're a target." Maya stated. Meia moaned as she leaned back in her chair that was slightly comfortable.

"So, what kind of person is she?" Dita asked.

"Who, Zoey?" Maya asked. Dita nodded and Maya sighed. "She was the final member chosen for Cell FireFox. As you know, Alex was the commander for that Cell. She is also the pilot for that golden machine which I have now found out is called, Akatsuki. She is also the head of the military hospital for this colony."

"Any reason on why she continues to shoot her weapon off at any man that makes her mad?" Hibiki asked.

"Oh that, that's because she's always starting fights with people that piss her off." She replied nonchalantly. Hibiki went wide eyed at this before looking forwards with fear in his eyes.

"So why did she insist on taking us here, rather than the holding cells?" Meia asked.

"I have no idea." Maya replied as the door hissed open behind them.

"Alright, let's get this meeting underway." Zoey said as she walked behind the desk and took a seat. Hibiki had his eyes glued to Zoey. She was… odd. "So, let's start from the top. State your name, rank, and reasons for me to not shoot you." She said with a smile. Hibiki's jaw dropped as she bent over. "You see something you like?" She asked seductively.

"Is there a reason you're doing that?" Meia pointed to her chest.

Zoey blinked as she looked down at her chest. She smiled as she stood up and struck a pose. She had long blue hair that tied back in by a long line of rubber bands. She had dark tanned skin that bore no tan lines. She had ocean blue eyes that bore a strange slit on the bottom of the iris. She wore a black tube top that had a golden phoenix between her breasts. She wore a pair of blue jeans that had all the material for her right leg, while the left leg was left bare all the way to the hip. One sneeze and the surprise would be out. She had black fingerless gloves covering her hands. She also had a pink paint on her fingernails. She made one odd picture.

"Jealous?" Meia blushed madly as Zoey leaned over the desk and swatted Meia's nose with a finger. "Don't be so mad, though I have to admit, you are really cute when you're all red in the face." Meia's blushed deepened as Zoey's breaths caressed her cheeks.

"I believe you should be getting on with this meeting." Maya growled.

"You still are a party pooper, I see." Zoey moaned. Maya just floated around the air while chuckling. "I see you've grown a sense of humor since you've been gone." Maya stopped and flew into Zoey's face while growling. "And quick to anger, I see."

"I should report you to Asaugi, you evil little…"

"That's great." Zoey interrupted Maya's threat with a wave of her hand. "So, let's start from the top. Why did you have possession of the Wing Zero?" Meia took a deep breath as she began the long tale on what happened.

(-)

"Well, this certainly wasn't expected." Magno moaned. BC nodded as she followed her captain and Gascgone down the hall they had been walking down for the past five minutes. They were following Blood, who seemed none to happy at the moment. He was now dressed in a white and blue air force uniform. (A/N. These look like the ZAFT uniforms, but have the ORB colors.) "So, where are you taking us?"

"To the top General." He replied. This man had no emotion to his voice. It was almost scary in some way.

"And why are going to see her?" Gascgone asked. She had been watching some of the interactions between the men and the women as they followed the not so happy Gundam Pilot.

"She wishes to speak with you about Alex. We are aware that he was with you up to a certain point. What she wants to know is why he was." He replied. He stopped at a brown door and turned the golden knob to open the door. The four walked into a white room with a long black desk in the middle of the room. Behind the desk was five chairs, while up front was four more chairs. "Please, take a seat. We will be with you shortly." He left the room.

"Nice guy." Gascgone joked. Magno and BC rolled their eyes as they took a seat. "I wonder how life has treated Suki."

"I wonder if she even remembers us." Magno mussed.

"It has been awhile since we saw them, but the more important question is, what are they going to do to us?" Gascgone stated. "We may have been the ones to hide them from the men, but we're in their territory, and we also happen to be pirates. Those together can only spell trouble for us."

"True, but I'm certain they won't do anything too bad to us." BC looked over at Magno in confusion. "We are the ones that were trying to bring Alex back to them. I'm certain that we shall be okay."

"What are the chances of them going easy on us still?" BC questioned.

"Pretty high." A voice said. Magno smiled as she turned around to find a woman with blood red hair that was cut short. A white mask covered her face. She had black paint on her fingernails. Her uniform was the same as Bloods'. She had dark colored skin that matched her chocolate brown eyes.

Gascgone smiled at the sight of Willow. "It's been quite awhile since I last saw you, Gascgone. I've been worried about you ever since we left, but it's nice to see you again." She said while hugging her long lost friend. Gascgone just smiled as she released her.

"So, when was the last time we all saw you two?" Magno turned to see a smirking woman that could only be Suki. Long black hair that was braided into a long ponytail came down to the center of her back. She too wore the standard the military uniform, though hers was black and white, rather than white and blue. Her eyes were sea foam green. She had lightly tanned skin and red nail polish on her fingernails.

"It's good to see you again, Suki." Magno said with a smile.

"That's Suki Blood now." She corrected with a big goofy grin on her face. "Speaking of which, have you seen my husband around here. I know he brought you here." She stated while looking around the room a little bit.

"I believe he went to find Asaugi." Magno said with a grin.

"So, looks like a reunion is coming around again." Willow commented as she took a seat on the left of the center chair. "For the record, any bad information you have attaining around Alex's supposed death will not be viewed as a good thing unless it's good information."

"I see." Magno whispered. She now knew their odds of getting out of this without having someone possibly jailed were slim to none.

"Don't worry; it is after all a majority vote when it comes to these kinds of things." Suki commented as she took up the seat on the other side of the center chair. "So, where's Rebecca and Ezra. I didn't see them when we searched the ship." She grinned.

"I don't know. We've had quite a long trip that I'm sure any more. We've been gone from our home worlds for so long that we…"

"Home worlds?" Suki and Willow questioned in unison. "Did they finally stop trying to make war with your people or…" Willow asked, but the look on Magno's face shot that hope down. "So things spiraled down, I see." Magno nodded. "What about the Techs we sent? Did they make to Mejarru?"

"I'm sure we'll be getting that out of them, Willow." Blood said as he walked in and took a seat next to Suki. "Asaugi is on her way. She has to deal with a few people at the moment. They're currently looking for Maya onboard the ship. She shouldn't be long."

"She's in the mainframe of the Nirvana." BC told him. "If you can find Parfait, and tell her your business, I'm certain she won't try anything."

"That's great to hear then." Blood grumbled. "So, how long has it been since we all last saw each other?" He asked with a smile on his face.

"Since the Taraaku fight, if memory serves me correctly." Willow replied.

"Yes, that it has." Suki whispered. The very mention of that day brought chills to even her. She had long since fought that memory away from the bawls of her mind. She, along with everyone involved on that day, had fought hard to forget what had happened on that day.

"Alas, we are not here to bring up memories of days we wish not to remember." Willow stated. The group nodded as all eyes fell on Willow. "We have come here for one purpose and one purpose only."

"Indeed." Another woman stated. Magno turned her head to see Asaugi. She hadn't changed a bit since she had last seen her. Her hair was a dark purple, and fell just bellow the base of her neck. She had green eyes that matched her well tanned skin. She, like the rest of her friend, say for Suki of course, wore the same military uniform. She walked over to the center chair to take a seat. A smile formed as she took in the sight of Magno and Gascgone. Two familiar faces smiling back at was her greeting.

"Asaugi, it's good to see you again." Magno said with a smile. Asaugi smiled sadly as a hidden hand rubbed her stomach slightly.

"Me too, Magno." She whispered. Her face instantly switched from one of sadness to one of coldness and heartlessness. Magno knew what was coming now. "Please state your business for being in our domain, your involvement in the destruction of two military colonies, and the incidents that transpired to Alex's death." She commanded coldly. BC cringed at the sheer tone she used.

Magno took a deep breath as she began from the beginning.

(-)

"You blew up a military station on the grounds of infestation?" Zoey asked. Meia and Hibiki both nodded. "Wow, sounded like fun if you ask me." She remarked.

"WE ALMOST DIED!" Hibiki screamed. The force of the yell sent Zoey's hair flaying. Zoey had to restrain herself from shooting him just like every other man that ever did anything that stupid in front of her.

"You're alive, aren't you?" She motioned his present form. Hibiki was about to begin another power housed yell until Meia put a hand over his mouth to shut him up. "Nice to see you finally trying to keep that idiot in line." She moaned. Meia narrowed her eyes on Zoey's head.

"Yes, we blew up the station." Meia stated, removing her hand from Hibiki's mouth. "Alex said that he was going to follow standard issue protocol after we made first contact with the enemy. That was why we decided to blow up the station."

"If he told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?" Zoey asked as she spun around in her chair. Meia and Hibiki arched an eyebrow at this. Here was a woman probably no older then twenty three or twenty four, and she was showing no signs of care for the loss of one of her own? Yeah, something definitely didn't make sense with this picture.

"No." Meia said coldly. The fact that she was badmouthing him at ever turn was just enough to make her hate women, and this one was on the fast track to becoming target practice if she kept it up.

"Why would you say that about Alex?" Dita asked. Zoey stopped as she looked over at Dita with a smile on her face. "Why would you say such mean things about him when all he wanted to do was get home?"

"It's something you wouldn't understand." She waved off the comment with a flick of her hand. "What I do wanna know is why you destroyed another colony out in the middle of space; one that was un-inhabited and under constant surveillance." A display of Wing Zero and Vandread Dita appeared on screen. The four, and one AI, watched as the two machines fired their weapons to destroy the station.

"How did you know about that?" Meia asked.

"It's amazing to think that such a well trained soldier like Alex V. Switchfoot, would miss the surveillance cameras… unless he never truly wanted to be seen." Meia bit her bottom lip as Zoey continued. "I'm certain that Alex told you that he was a Super Soldier, so how could he have missed something so obvious? Especially when he does this." The display then showed the Wing Zero flying by the hidden camera, but not before staring straight into it. "I think this just goes to show you, that he's not what he seems to be." Wing Zero blasted off out of the cameras' view.

"That just means he wanted to let you people know he was alive." Hibiki snapped. Zoey narrowed her eyes on the young boy. "He obviously knew that you would be watching the place since he said that he had been one of the many people who checked out the station. So chances are, he wanted to be found."

"Wow; stupid, cute, to young for me! I wish I was a little younger… so that I could shoot you for pointing out the obvious." Zoey said with a smile on her face. Hibiki gulped as he sat back down. He suddenly found the white floors to be pretty cool for some strange reason. "For the record, he did do just that. He wanted us to know that he was okay. He also left us some pretty interesting stuff." She now licked her lips as she stared at Hibiki. "He left a small message that said he was bringing you all this way so Rain could kill the three Taraaku men." Hibiki's head jerked up at this. "Though, we received this little footage about six months ago, so that would give him ample opportunities to understand just what you did to them."

"Are you… still… going to kill me?" he gulped.

"Nope, I'll leave that up to Rain." She said while licking her lips. Meia stared at the woman in shock.

(-)

"Let's go over it again, just so I got this straight." Suki said. "You were raiding a male ship over Taraaku, when they decided to detach the top of the ship." Magno nodded. "Afterwards, you continued to raid the ship, hoping to take it, and its power source, back to your hideout." Again, Magno nodded. "However, before you could get that far, the men launched a pair of missiles that destroyed your ship, and then sucked you into a wormhole that transported you just a few days outside of Colony X119?" Magno once again nodded. "You were then engaged by an unknown group of hostiles? After a few minutes of fighting a losing battle, Alex showed up in the Freedom to lend assistance, and helped in evening the odds?" Magno, BC, and Gascgone both nodded at this. "After fighting the enemy for three more minutes, Hibiki Tokai, a boy from Taraaku and the very same one that we pulled from inside that blue machine, began fighting the enemy with you. After a few minutes of fighting, his machine was destroyed, along side with Dita Liebely's. Once they were supposedly dead, the blue machine appeared out of the dust and flames, catching the enemy off guard. In the span of thirty seconds, they managed to destroy all of the remaining enemies before destroying the Egg Carrier?"

"Yes, that's the order in how it happened." Gascgone said.

"Then explain to us, why Alex would willingly work with you?" Blood asked.

"Uh, to get home and warn you about the new enemy." Magno stated. Asaugi narrowed her eyes on Magno, letting her know that she almost crossed the line right there. "Sorry."

"Make sure that it'll never happen again." Asaugi seethed. "So, what happened afterwards?"

"Alex led us to X08999. He said it was a planet that you had been using as a testing facility for weapons and other things." BC said. "When we reached the planet, he began telling the team that was going down to the planet what they might find. Once he finished explaining what they would find, he continued his scan the planet for a security system."

(-)

"So after fighting these odd machines over the Gas Giant, Alex left the battlefield to wait for you to slingshot around the planet." Zoey asked. Hibiki nodded. "So after you failed to escape the planets' intense gravity, you came up with an idea to ignite the planet into a sun." Hibiki once again nodded. "So what happened after you succeeded in igniting the planet?"

"We," Hibiki stopped to look over at Dita. "…began to engage the Harvest Flag Ship with our combined cannons as a spear. Once the spear, and flare that had been tailing it, hit the flag ship, a large explosion obscured the scene. After a few seconds, the ship returned and began trying to escape. Another solar flare emerged from the new star and crashed into us. After a brief moment, we launched from he flare and punched through the ship. The machine died after that."

"So what happened to Alex?" Zoey asked.

"From what we know, he was dealing with the three Vandread Clones that had appeared on the battlefield." Meia said. "I'm not certain as to how he was defeated, but I'm certain that he fought hard to win."

"And now that leaves us with this one little dilemma you now find yourselves in." Zoey said.

(-)

"So what happened after you escape the gravity of the planet?" Willow questioned.

"After the sun began to expand, we began racing out of the birthing suns' field of gravity and solar flares it was emitting." BC said. "Once we got away, we were able to watch as Vandread Dita successfully destroyed the flag ship. After a few seconds of relief, the machine appeared again. Another solar flare emerged from the new sun and crashed into Vandread Dita. We all thought they had died for a brief moment until they reappeared from within the flare. A few seconds later, they appeared and punched through the machine."

"After the machine was destroyed, we began checking to see if everyone was okay." Magno took over. "The first pilots we found were Meia, Barnette, Dita and Hibiki, then Jura. After a few seconds, the Freedom reappeared on our screens, but was labeled "Signal Terminated"." Magno lowered her head at that. "I then called for Gascgone to go see if he was alive."

All eyes now fell on Gascgone. "I didn't find him or anything big enough for us to ID as the Freedom. When I got there, all I found was broken blue tips, which I assumed were the wings, busted up white chunks of armor. There was no blood, body parts, or anything left in the area for me to identify as Alex's body. The only thing that remained… was this." Gascgone dug her hand into one of the many pockets on her trench coat. She pulled out the silver necklace that Alex had always worn after Meia handed it back to him during Christmas. She placed the item on the table. "That necklace was the only thing that survived, and I never had the heart to give it back to Meia after I told Magno my findings."

Asaugi pulled the item close to her chest as she closed her eyes. For those in the room, it would have been the second time in their lives to see her cry. She smiled sadly at the item before putting it away. "I guess then we'll have to now list him as KIA than." She whispered.

"Is there anything else you have to tell us?" Suki questioned.


	2. Wait What

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 2 Wait What

Hibiki was floored. Hibiki had actually been expecting something else other than what they had just been in. Zoey's final question to them was the place she wanted to eat. She had the nerve to ask them where they wanted to eat. Of all the odd questions she wanted to know about, she had to ask them where to eat. The choices were a mall or a bar. It ended up being tied until they ran into Jura. Jura yelled at Zoey when she made a comment about her outfit, but after hearing about a mall, she forced Barnette into siding with her. So the group had gone to the mall to eat.

Hibiki stared down at his hamburger. He poked it a few times as he tried to figure out what it was. He had never seen meat like the one in-between the two buns. It was sloppy and covered with sauce.

"What's wrong with you?" Zoey asked with a mouthful of french-fries. She blinked innocently as Jura glared at her. "What's wrong with you?" Zoey asked.

Jura bent her metal fork in half as she continued to glare at Zoey. Jura had taken a major hatred to Zoey after she made an evil comment about her outfit. Jura, after trying to come up with some kind of retort, ended up having Zoey make about thirty evil comments about her hair, skin complexion, eye color, nail color, personality issues, and the fact that she needed to get laid. Jura, having no idea what the last insult meant, had decided to just stick to hating Zoey until she was gone.

"What is this stuff?" Hibiki poked the burger with a fork.

"It's called a Sloppy Joe. Don't you know anything?" Zoey took a big bite of her Sloppy Joe, which ended up dropping all of its meat on her plate. Meia looked over at the now goofy looking Zoey with a sigh.

"Is there a reason to why you eat like a slob?" Meia finally mumbled.

"Yes, it makes me look like a goofy girl that doesn't have a clue about anything she does." She said with a smile. "You wanna hear my ultimate female call?" Barnette perked up at this. She actually only wanted to know so she could shoot more men back home when they got back, and only if things didn't change. Zoey took a deep breath and said, "I'M SO WASTED! I'M SO WASTED!" with a big goofy grin. Meia stared at her in shock. Dita blinked in surprise. Barnette went wide eyed while dropping her soda. Jura didn't know what to say or do. Hibiki didn't know what to think.

"What kind of call is that?!" Hibiki yelled. "That would never…" a man walked up to Zoey. "…work?"

"Hey good…"

"What's up, Kyle?" Zoey interrupted the man. The man sighed as he took a seat next to her.

"These your friends?" he asked, motioning the pilots before him. Kyle's hand inched towards its destination.

"What time is it?" Kyle paled as she looked at her wrist. Meia noticed that she wasn't even looking at a watch when she said, "Three o'clock. You know what that means right?" Kyle blinked in confusion. The minute he knew what time it was, it was too late. She shot him in the foot with her handgun. Kyle was on the ground, rolling around as he held his foot and screamed in pain. Zoey stood up and put her gun back in its holster. "That's for grabbing my ass, you pervert."

The girls all looked between Zoey and Kyle. Barnette was in total shock over what just happened. Jura seemed to enjoy the screams the man was yelling out at the moment. Dita was instantly by the man's side, trying to see if he was okay. Meia just stared down at the man as he suddenly became still. Hibiki was staring down at the young man with worry and fear in his eyes.

"That was fun, let's do it again!" Zoey cried. She shot him one more time, this time in the left foot. The man didn't cry out in pain this time. "Looks like the poison is beginning to take effect."

"What?" Barnette questioned with wide eyes.

"I can't feel my legs." Kyle said.

"Oh yeah, I put poison on all my ammo. It makes it more efficient when you need to interrogate someone or need to take someone out without killing them." She told them.

"My body… is trying to die." Kyle groaned.

"Is he going to be okay?" Dita cried.

"Who, him?" Zoey pointed down to the drooling Kyle. "Oh yeah, this isn't the first time I've had to shoot him. Any time he sees me, his hand instantly goes for the kill."

"How many times have you shot him?" Jura laughed. Kyle instantly began to stand up.

"I've shot him about thirty nine times this month. But my brother," Kyle pulled out his gun, but Zoey just hit him with the butt of her pistol. He instantly fell back on the floor. "…he's shot him about five hundred and thirty nine times for being a pervert, ass to me, and making bad comments about our brother."

"Whose you're brother?" Dita asked.

"Alex." Everyone stared at Zoey. Meia dropped her fork and went wide eyed. Dita blinked in confusion. Jura stared at the woman that had just shot a man twice for no reason. Barnette had stars in her eyes over what she had just heard and seen. "You didn't know that, did you?" Everyone shook their heads. "Yeah, he's my brother."

"Wait, how can that be? He never once said anything about you!" Meia screeched.

"I can explain that." Zoey chirped as she finished drinking her soda. "You see, Alex and me came up with the idea to never talk about each other unless we were talking to someone that knew either of us." She said while raising her hands in defeat.

"Why would he keep you a secret though?" Dita asked.

"That's because we had a small fight one day over something we said to our friends about each other. We came up with the idea to never talk about each other unless someone knew about either of us." She replied with a shrug.

"So are you an older sibling, or a younger sibling?" Barnette asked.

"I'm the middle child. Alex was born just four minutes before me." She sighed. "He never truly treats me as the younger sibling though. He prefers to say that I'm the oldest sometimes, just because I'm a little more mature then him. In reality, he's more mature than I am." She answered sadly.

"So… what now?" Jura asked.

(-)

"How long until our ship is repaired?" Gascgone asked. Gascgone was eating lunch with Willow and Suki at a nearby Pizza restaurant. Both Suki and Willow were out of their military cloths, much to their enjoyment.

Suki still had her odd sense of fashion. She was wearing a black haori and hakama. A crimson red dragon wrapped around her left leg and continued around her waist to end with its head on the center of her back. Glowing yellow eyes gave her the appearance that she had eyes in the back of her head.

Willow still had her odd sense of fashion as well. She was wearing black loose fit pants that with grey shin guards like Alex had. They were engraved with a jigsaw like pattern. She had a large black sweater that was under a large silver V like vest. She still had her white mask from before on. A large tan colored poncho was draped over the back of her chair.

"It should be done within a few hours." Suki replied. "I think Magno wants to stay here for a few days to let your crew rest. I think it's a good idea though, it will give us a chance to catch up."

"I second that." Willow said, sipping on a crazy straw that went from her glass of soda and directly into her mask. Willow had always chosen to keep her mask on for reason she kept to herself. Gascgone knew that Alex had picked up his mask habit from Willow, not to mention that he had also learned how to fight from her.

"Yeah, I could use a few days off the ship. We've been on that ship for like eight months." She moaned as she took a bite of her pepperoni pizza.

"I'm sure I would too." Willow laughed. "So, how have things been since last time we talked?"

"You mean since you left the Taraaku military in shambles, left Mejarru with a bunch of technology that needed to have all the parts or would make a large crater in the ground, and left us with a few good words and empty promises?" Gascgone questioned. Willow and Suki rolled their eyes. "So I lied on the last part, but who cares?" She smiled.

"I take it things went well then?" Suki said with a grin.

"Not really." Gascgone groaned. "Things went downhill fast after the Taraaku military picked up what remained of their military and attacked the station that you left your gifts for our home world. They successfully destroyed it, and then we went to war with them. Ever since, we've been helping out in our own way, but things have gotten really bad that not even we can truly do anything to really help out anymore."

"I wish we could have just taken you with us when we left, but…" Willow started.

"But we didn't want to abandon our home world just like that." Gascgone finished. Gascgone stared down at her last slice of pizza. "You know something, I wanted to go with you, but I just couldn't do it. I felt like I was needed a little bit more by Magno's side than yours. I'm sure you think that's strange, but I think I can understand just why I say that." Suki and Willow both nodded. "If I had gone with you, and Magno still ended up in the jam we're in now, I'm sure that a lot of things would have been different."

"Sometimes the best path goes unseen until the very end." Suki whispered. "I remember when I told Alex those words. He was losing to my husband at Chess, and I was the one to show him that nifty trick he used on him quite a bit." She said sadly.

"I remember when I started teaching him how to fight." Willow commented. "I still can't believe he started wearing a mask like me. I had to say, I was a little pleased with his appearance when he showed me. That must have been twelve years ago today."

"The days we long for are the days that we wish to, see in newer generation of life. But with this new threat, it will make things harder for us." Gascgone raised a brow at Suki's words. "I'm certain that you know that our people will not so willingly go to war. After all, some of us are still reeling from our war."

"Alex told us everything about that war." Gascgone said. "He said you five were the best and still are to this day." Suki smiled while Willow's smile went unseen.

"I wish we had the strength like your people did when ya'll were dealing with those idiots on Taraaku." Willow commented. "As strange as it was, I had lots of fun fighting like that back then, but without the fighting, I just feel so… empty."

"I guess life was truly hard once the war ended, huh?" Gascgone questioned. Both women nod their heads as they looked out the window towards a large Bio Garden.

"But now, all we want is peace and nothing more." Suki added. "We now fight for peace, hoping that the younger generation can live in a world without fighting wars. But despite all our efforts, it seems that humanity is not meant to get along with one another."

"Time will continue to move forward, as if making our own decisions for us." Willow added. Gascgone nodded at this as she lifted her soda into the air. Suki and Willow followed a few seconds later. "To peace, harmony, and another way to say peace." She toasted.

(-)

"Thank you for having us over for Tea, Asaugi." Magno said. Asaugi just smiled. Asaugi was out of her military clothing, meaning that she no longer had to be a hard ass like she always was.

Asaugi's hair was done up into a small ponytail. She was wearing a dark blue kimono with rusty red flower peddles. She was still an odd sight to see, but for those that had known her, it was nothing to strange.

"No problem, but I am a little curious as to how Alex was able to get along with your pilots." Asaugi took a sip of her tea. "I knew that Alex has always pushed people away after Rei's death, and always wanted to do things on his own."

"He actually got along pretty well with everyone but the male pilot and our helmsman." Magno said with an evil grin. "You have no idea on how many times that young one, Hibiki, came to me to ask if we could move him to another cell." Asaugi arched a brow at this. "He would always punch him in the face if he made a bad comment about him or women."

"That sounds like Alex." Asaugi mumbled. Magno just chuckled. "But how did he get along with all the pilots?"

"We had a few bad moments with him in the beginning, but he eventually became good friends with most of the pilots. He even fell in love with one of them." Asaugi raised a brow at this. "You remember the family you gave your gifts to?" Asaugi nodded. "He fell in love with their daughter, Meia Gisborn, the Flight Leader for our ship." Asaugi smiled warmly at that.

"Knowing that someone brought down his iced over heart is enough for me to know that he died fighting for what he viewed as precious." She said. Magno nodded. "I can't remember the last time I saw him happy, or with another human being that wasn't a part of our family."

"I'm sorry for what has happened, and I know that my words can do very little. But I'm sure that he'll be watching over us on our journey home." Magno said. Asaugi nodded at this.

"How much firepower do you have on your ship?" Magno blinked as she looked up at Blood. Blood too was without his military uniform. He wore the basic biker attire in all black.

"We have a handful of Dreads, one Vanguard that can combine with three individual Dreads that were altered by the Pexis, and a ship with no weapons." She answered.

Blood closed his eyes as he began thinking. Something was obviously on his mind, because anyone that had ever known him long enough, knew that when he closed his eyes to think, something was really bothering him.

"Asaugi, I'll be heading out with them." He finally stated. Asaugi blinked in surprise. "I am the best Heavy Assault pilot we have. If I go with them, I can promise you they'll make it home in one piece."

"And how would you get home if our Leaders chose not to aid them?" Asaugi questioned. Blood looked shocked, but knew she was right. What chances did they have? It was Taraaku that started the fight, refused to listen to reason, and most importantly, killed one of their best pilots. Sure, Alex killed and entire platoon, if not hundreds of them on that day, along with the space station he took out, but some wounds just never heal.

"I'm certain our people will…"

"I've already selected a pilot to go with them." Asaugi interrupted him. Blood looked up at her in surprise. She chose one already? And what was worse, was that she didn't run it by him. "The pilot is already aware of his mission, and has agreed to take it. The only problem now is convincing our three leaders to take up arms against the Harvester fleet."

"Getting them to side with us will be the hardest part." Blood growled.

"Look on the bright side, at least we only have to convince two of them, rather than all three." Asaugi joked. Blood just shook his head while trying not to chuckle.

(-)

Meia and Zoey continued to talk about Alex. The group had decided to split up and look over the mall while Meia and Zoey continued talking. Sounded good, was good actually. Zoey had wanted to know everything that Alex had done on the ship, along with the things he had done with Meia. Meia blushed when Zoey asked about that, but Meia being who she was, was a little embarrassed over some of the things she asked.

Hibiki and Dita had gone to just look around the mall. Hibiki had found a strange place that seemed to have a bunch of odd gadgets for machines of every sort. They ranged from little remote controlled cars and all the way up to actually mechs like Hibiki's Vanguard and the Dreads. Turned out that during the fight over Taraaku, a lot of the debris that belonged to Vanguards had been picked up by the lunar forces. The Dread parts had been a product of good sign on Mejarru's part. Some of the stuff had already been put on the ship since they ran into Parfait who was telling them about some of the new items.

Jura and Barnette had a mini fight over where to go first. Surprisingly enough, a gun store was in the mall, and it was flooded with marines. From what Barnette could see from outside the store, guns of old and new were hanging on the walls, while display cases showed newer models or custom models people had designed. It was heaven to Barnette. Jura however, wanted to hit ever shopping store in the mall. Barnette knew why, and knew that her chances of getting inside the store were pretty slim anyway, since Jura didn't really like all the guns the store had.

"Come on, Jura, please." Barnette begged. Yeah, she really wanted to go in there. Jura eyed the store as she looked at some of the men in the store. One was wearing a SWAT uniform. Another was wearing an all red suit of armor like Alex's. Another was wearing white robes of some kind. They must have been another cell or something. No one would wear clothing like that. "Please Jura, just this once." Jura snapped back to reality as she instantly found herself staring into Barnette's puppy dog eyes.

Jura groaned. "Oh alright, but you have to help me carry all my clothing." She stated firmly. Jura blinked as she stared at the spot her friend once stood at. Jura began looking around the mall for her friend, but soon realized that she had actually dashed off right after she groaned.

The place was truly a paradise for those that had loved guns. Barnette was eyeing every single one of them with aw. She was checking them left and right. A few were new models that had been recreated from older or the original model. She had already found the same weapon that Alex had given her back on the station they first destroyed. Her hands brushed along side the weapons frame a few times.

She missed him. Despite the fact that they hardly every talked, she missed him. He was in someway, a missing part of her now. She remembered the Christmas incident with him when he caught all the boxes before they could fall on her.

She shook her head to clear those thoughts. She needed to move on.

"Hey, you gonna buy that or just stare at it?" the salesman asked. Barnette looked over at the man with hate filled eyes for a moment before looking over some of the other weapons.

"Come on, Barnette. Don't you have enough guns on the ship?" Jura moaned. Jura accidentally bumped into the SWAT dressed boy by mistake. Rather than appolagize right there, since it was her fault, she decided to yell, "Appolagize right now!" into his ear. The boy, who looked no older than seventeen or eighteen, spun around and slammed a fist into her gut.

"Don't yell at me you dirty tramp." He seethed. Jura doubled over as his fist left her stomach, taking away her leverage. She crashed to the ground as he, and the other two men left.

Barnette went wide eyed as he friend slowly got up. Barnette saw the whole thing, and knew that she was at fault. Jura had a nasty habit of thinking she had the right of way over everyone. It was something that she never would understand. The world didn't revolve around her, it revolved around everyone, and she was just too blind to see it sometimes.

Barnette slowly walked over to Jura, and helped her up. Jura coughed a few more times before whipping around with hate burning in her eyes. "Calm down, Jura. We don't need you making a scene. Besides, you are the one at fault here." She moaned.

(-)

"Are you sure he knows what you asked him to do?" Suki questioned. Asaugi nodded. "This sounds a little dangerous."

"I know, but this has to be done. There's no way other way. He's heading in that direction. We have no other choice if they want our help. They have to do it." Asaugi stated.

"What about Magno, what does she have to say about this?" Blood asked. "I doubt she'll want to put her crew in danger."

"She has not been told yet, but I'm certain that if she wants our help she'll take the mission." Willow commented.

"So you agree with her on this?" Blood commented. Suki nodded. "I see, but why are we putting his life in their hands? Why can't you just send me to retrieve him? He is after all my partner."

"If you went, then you would have to return. But if they went, they could still head home after retrieving him." Asaugi stated. "I also think this plan of mine might work with this. As you know, we have to get two of the three leaders to agree to head to their world to lend some assistance."

"If this doesn't work, they could execute us." Blood warned. "You know that they've got very little tolerance for us. If this backfires, you can kiss your ass goodbye."

"This is worth the risk." Asaugi stated.

(-)

The next day, Meia, Magno, Jura, Barnette, BC, and Gascgone were standing before Blood, Asaugi, Suki and Willow. The reason for the meeting was still unknown to the Nirvana crew.

"Thank you for coming here before you leave." Asaugi greeted. "I hope you all are rested up, since I have a favor to ask." The Nirvana crew blinked in surprise. "As you know, we have multiple stations around planets, and other areas in space. A few hours ago, we received a very well encrypted message from a station that doesn't exist."

"What, if it doesn't exist, then how did you receive a message from it?" Jura asked. A look of confusion greeted her from Suki until she slapped a palm to her face. "Never mind." she moaned.

"Thanks for making me not explain myself." Asaugi grumbled. "This station that we received the message from, had also sent one just ten minutes prior to the new message we received. The first message said that they had found a life pod in space that still functioned. It went on to say that the life pod still had a life form in it, and it was still showing all green. That means the life form is still alive and needs rescuing."

"Why does it need rescuing?" BC asked.

"The second message said that they had been attacked by an unknown group of hostiles." Blood commented. "Maya told us that you have once run into a group of aliens that had killed all of the people on Colony X119. We believe them to be the same ones from before."

"Wait," Meia interjected. "You mean to tell us that there are more of them?!"

"We're unsure for the moment, but yes, we believe them to be the same ones from before." Blood replied.

"You need not worry about fighting them." Suki commented. "We already sent in a Strike Force to take them out. But we've received no word on their progress. But there is another reason we need you to head there."

"Oh and why is that?" Magno asked. She already had a bad feeling about this. Something just didn't seem to fit. She knew they probably had their reasons, but it would have to be one hell of a reason for her to consider putting her crew in danger like that again.

"You want our help in defeating the Harvesters?" Bloods snapped. Suki placed a hand on his shoulder, along with warning glare when he looked at her. "Sorry."

"Yes we want you help, but I don't see how this could help us." BC began. "In truth we owe a lot to you for keeping us off your radars, fixing our ship, and allowing our crew to rest here. But I don't understand how this could help you."

"There is an AI there that needs to be rescued." Willow told her. "This AI is the first of its kind, and as such, must be rescued to make sure that the enemy doesn't get their hands on our technology."

"And why should we go and risk our lives for an AI?" Barnette asked. "Can't you just make another one?"

"Unfortunately… no, we can not." Asaugi said sadly. "The AI is the first of his kind and also the smartest of the original five." The crew looked at her with confusion. "As you know, I am a Super Soldier that was designed for war, but, the five of us were paired up with an AI at the beginning of our campaign against Scion. Only two AI's now remain, and the one on the station was the first of its kind."

"I still don't see how this will help us." Gascgone said. "I understand how it helps you, but how does it help us?"

"Even we have restrictions that we must abide by." Willow stated. "There are three Rulers to our Government. Each one presides over a different region of space that we control. In order to go to war to either help or destroy a planet, we must get their approval first. Since this threat presides over the entire Galaxy, we can not just protect one nation, but since they are now attacking one in particular, we have a shot at it. The only problem is that one of the planets happens to be Taraaku."

"The three leaders are people that went to Taraaku with the peace treaty, and as such, have a deep hatred for that world. We may come to the aid of Mejarru, as a show of good faith to our promise, but not to Taraaku." Blood added.

"The reason you will take this mission is because we need an Ace in the Hole so to speak." Asaugi added. "If you can successfully grab the AI and get away from the station while blowing it up, we will have a good enough reason to head to Taraaku and Mejarru to help out."

"So all we have to do is grab the AI, life pod, and destroy the station?" Barnette asked.

"Yes, but we have to make sure that it's a standard purge. That means you'll have to set the timer again and then run away." Suki told her.

"Yeah, I remember last time." Jura moaned. A sudden thought hit her instantly. "Hey wait, if we're going to a station that you control, then does that mean we get a special soldier to help us out?"

"Yes, and we have already loaded his machine onto the ship. We even gave the manual to your Techs incase it got damaged. Spare parts are also onboard, along side another guest." Asaugi stated.

"And who's the pilot?" Jura asked. The doors hissed open to reveal a teenager in SWAT clothing. His clothing was all black, and his arms had a pair of wrist PDA's on both sides. He had brown hair that was spiky and long, and had grey eyes. From what skin they could see, he had lightly tanned skin. Jura instantly pointed a finger at him while screaming, "You're the little bastard that punched me!" at the top of her lungs.

Said boy raised a brow as he looked over at Asaugi. "For the record, she ran into me while I was talking to Mark. I did punch her, but only because she yelled in my ear over her own problem of perception."

"Like hell I did!" Jura yelled.

"Jura just let it go." Barnette whispered into her friends' ear. "He's not worth it. He is after all a Super Soldier, and possible top of his class like Alex was."

"Get a room you little tramps." The boy grumbled. "No one wants to see you doing it right here."

"Why you little…" Barnette screeched.

"Enough!" Asaugi yelled, interrupting Barnette before she could continue. "Rain, I will not have you starting fights at a time like this! You have a mission with these people! You must learn to get along with them, or I'll be putting you on the next flight into hell!"

Meia went wide eyed at the name. This wasn't going too bowed well for Hibiki, Duerro, and Bart if he was as bad as he sounded.

Said man grumbled a "Yes Ma'am" as he continued to stare at Barnette with a glare that could kill a dead man. Barnette returned it with one of her own. Not as affective as his or maybe even Alex's, but enough for him to back off slightly.

"Now I assume I can trust you to not kill any of them on the grounds you claim as an accident?" Asaugi asked. Rain narrowed his eyes on Barnette one last time before turning to Asaugi with a lazy expression.

"Yeah, yeah I promise not to kill them." He grumbled. "So long as they stay out of my way during combat, I promise not to kill them."

"Good, but you'll be learning some of their flight patterns so you don't accidentally wind up getting shot during a pattern maneuver." Willow told him. Meia went wide eyed at this too. This meant she would have to change her flight patterns again.

"What, you can't really expect me to do that, do you?!" He yelled. Asaugi sent him a warning glare that shut him up instantly.

"I expect you to follow the Flight Leaders' orders to the fullest. When she says "Jump" I want you to ask "How high" got it?" Asaugi stated. Rain grumbled over this as Asaugi continued. "You will be taking a detour to a nearby Satellite to retrieve Dale." Rain snapped to attention after that. "I will have Cole explain the situation." Asaugi nodded to Willow. Willow nodded and pulled a green chip from her pocket and placed it on a control panel. A sand colored male appeared before them, standing no taller than a foot. He was wearing monk robes of some sort, with a long ponytail that waved to an imaginary wind. "Cole, please explain the situation to Rain." Asaugi ordered. The AI nodded and turned to Rain.

"The installations' power grid is currently offline, but in order to work successfully in the installation, you must turn it on." Cole stated. Rain nodded. "The life pods' current whereabouts on the station is currently unknown. I would suggest that you turn the power on, head to the control room, search the recent data logs, and then retrieve the pod. Also, Dale is currently missing, and I would like you to find him at all costs."

"Understood."

Cole turned to Willow and said, "Is there anything else I can help you with, Willow?" with no emotion to his voice.

"You're done, Cole, you may return." Willow told him. The AI nodded and faded away. Willow pulled the chip from her panel and placed it back into her pocket. "Rain, you must retrieve Dale at all costs. If you fail to retrieve him, you may be without a way home. We need you to retrieve him so we can go help the Mejarru and Taraaku forces you'll be taking back to…" Willow was cut off as Rains' fist slammed into the desk, taking a good portion of it off as his fist went directly through it.

"I WILL NOT GO TO THE GOD DAMN HELL HOLE OF A PLACE!" Rain yelled. The women all jumped back in surprise at his sudden outburst. "YOU SAID THAT I WAS TAKING THESE PEOPLE TO THEIR HOME WORLD ON THE OTHER SIDE OF DELTA X108! I HAVE HALF A MIND TO TURN YOU IN RIGHT NOW!"

"You will be taking them to their home world or I'll consider this an act of treason!" Asaugi yelled. Rain narrowed his already hate filled eyes on Asaugi as she returned it with one that cold freeze hell over. "Your choice."

Rain grumbled as he walked out of the room to scream ever kind of curse he knew in another language. Meia raised a brow at some of the words she already knew, thanks to Alex, that he was using. Asaugi and Suki moaned while they rolled their eyes. Blood just raised a brow while Willow stared blankly at the door. A few seconds later, Rain walked back in.

"Finished?" Willow questioned. Rain growled at her. She sighed knowing that he was still rather pissed.

"Can we trust you to not kill the three Taraaku men?" Blood asked. Rain slowly nodded while keeping his piercing gaze on Willow.

"Good, because you leave in three hours." Asaugi told him.

(-)

"This will be your room." Meia told Rain as she opened the door to his room. Rain dropped two large duffle bags on the floor while putting his laptop on the desk provided. "We'll be having a meeting with the rest of the team that will be accompanying you on the mission to retrieve the pod and the AI in thirty minutes."

"I can take care of myself, thank you." Rain stated. "But thanks for the offered help."

"I went to the last station to help Alex in destroying it. The same team will be going whether you like it or not." Meia stated. Rain sat on the bed as he glared at Meia. "I know you don't like this, but you're going to have to deal with it." Rain turned to look out the window with a scowl on his face. "I need to know what type of machine you use and what it can do, so I can come up with some battle strategies."

"I pilot the Infinite Justice, also called "Justice" for sort. It has one rifle, one jet pack, one beam boomerang, and one shield. Two beam sabers are also on it, but I hardly use them. The jet pack also has two turrets and one long javelin on it to either blast or spear the enemy." Rain mumbled as he turned to face Meia. "Any thing else?" Meia shook her head. "Good, because I'd have Maya tell you." He stated firmly. Meia took a deep breath as she left his room.

_This is going to be fun. _Meia thought.

A/N

Okay, so those are the new people in this story. For those of you that still want to suggest any types of suits, you should know you have a lot of time to think about it. For those of you that don't know a good site to go to for information on any of the suits, this is the site I use.

for those of you that think Zoey is a complete nut case, you should know that she is only like that because she hates perverts and likes everyone in the universe. Also, in case you can't tell, another station chapter is coming up, so expect a few creepy surprises in the next two chapters.

Please Read and Review.


	3. Same old Same old

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 3 Same old same old

"This installation we're heading to, why did your people keep it off the radar?" Hibiki asked Rain. It had only taken them two days since to get to the station, and it had only taken three major fights with Hibiki and Rain to get there.

Rain had taken a major disliking towards the three men onboard the ship, all of which had taken most of the women to hold him off when Hibiki or Bart made a bad comment about him. As for the women, he had been in someway, the same to the women, only nicer. He, for some reason, had taken a slight liking to Meia and Magno for reasons unknown. Barnette was at the top of his hate file, while Jura was a second best. As for the women, they just tried to coop with him, knowing that he would take awhile to get use to.

"The installation was used as a testing facility for medical research and weapon development. It was developed was for the soul reason of keeping things hidden from public eyes." Rain stated. He looked over at Hibiki with a hateful look on his face. "Why do you care?"

"I was just curious that's all." Hibiki said hastily. Rain growled as he turned to look at the station they were heading towards. _Man, this guy is strange! _

"What's on the station that you know about?" Barnette asked. Barnette was piloting the shuttle they were using to get to the station. Barnette too had taken a high disliking to Rain.

"Pretty much white walls, white walls, and more white walls." Rain stated. Barnette growled at him, as if to warn him that he was pushing the line. "There's a Bio Garden and a bunch of hangers. Anything else, and I couldn't tell you." He snapped.

"Rain," Meia began. Rain looked over at Meia with an odd look on his face. "Is there anything important we need to know about?"

"Not that I'm aware of." He said sadly. "In any case, we need to keep our wits about us, and our eyes pealed for anything out of the ordinary."

"Why do you say that?" Jura snapped.

"Are your ears clogged with all your makeup you wear?" Rain snapped. Jura narrowed her eyes on him as he walked over to the Co-Pilot seat beside Barnette. "You heard what Commander Blood said, didn't you?" Jura mumbled a few curses as he continued. "He said we could be dealing with the same things that you had to take on at the first colony. That's why I said, "Keep your eyes pealed and your wits about you" a moment ago."

"Listen you…"

"Barnette, that's enough." Meia commanded. "He's going to be like Alex now. That means that he'll be the only one to help us in getting this mission done."

"Alright." She sighed in defeat. She looked over at Rain with a scowl on her face. "Just stay out of my way and I promise not to kill you in the crossfire." She seethed.

"Same goes to you." He replied. Meia just sighed as the two pilots ended the conversation with a threat/promise compromise that could only mean trouble. Hibiki just grumbled something that no one could hear. Jura just blinked in surprise while she looked in-between the two pilots with a strange expression. "Heading to Hanger C5; prepare for landing sequence."

(-)

"This place doesn't look any different from the other two stations we've been on." Barnette stated. The hanger was the same as the last one they had been to; White walls, large crates, and an odd array of mechs at every corner.

"Yeah, but why is the power on?" Hibiki questioned. Everyone stopped and stared up at the ceiling. Sure enough, the power was on. "You think that AI was wrong?"

"No, he's never wrong." Rain stated. "Someone or something might have turned the power on by either accident or purpose. Stay on your toes; I don't want anything going sour at a time like this." Rain told them.

"Why do you have such faith in that AI, anyways?" Jura asked. "Why do your people listen to them if you believe that computers lie?"

"They're never wrong." Rain told her while walking over to the door. "This way, it'll lead us to the main hallway that leads to the Command Station. Hopefully we won't have many of those strange creatures to deal with. I'd hate to have to fight them."

"That's probably the first thing you've said that I actually appreciated." Jura said while pulling her weapon out. The team was using the same weapons as before, but Rain was using Alex's old weapon. "So, how do we get the power on?"

"We need to head to the Reactor Room to turn the power on. After that, we can head straight for the Command Room. Once we get there, I'll have Maya enter the system to find the life pod, find Dale, and then start the Self Destruction sequence." Rain stated.

"You know, I remember when Alex told me that the Reactor Room was to us an Instrument of our death if we didn't move our ass." Hibiki said with a grin.

"Yeah, that sounds like him." Rain moaned as he walked over to a flight of stairs. "Come, this way."

"Come, this way." Jura mocked. Barnette snickered slightly as she followed the young man down the stairs. "So, how many flights of stares do we have to go through?"

"Twenty five flights." He stated nonchalantly. Jura almost paled at the mere sound of that. "Don't worry, there's a secret to making it go a lot faster." He stopped a small ledge.

"Oh, and what would that be." Jura asked, sarcasm dripping from her lips. Rain raised a brow before jumping over the ledge. "What the hell! Is he insane?!" Jura screamed as she leaned over the railing to stare down into the darkness of the tunnel that lead down the flight of stares.

"If doesn't die from that, I swear I'll kill him!" Hibiki screamed. Meia was just wide eyed at what he did.

"_You know, it's not that far of a drop?" _Rain's voice said over the radio. Meia just sighed in relief while Jura, Barnette, and Hibiki all began yelling at him over the radio. _"Shut the hell up before I kill all of you!" _That was enough to shut Hibiki up and cool Jura down slightly, but not enough to stop Barnette. A clicking sound instantly signaled that his radio had been killed.

"Why that little…" Barnette began.

"Don't worry about." Meia said. She walked over the ledge and did the same thing, scaring Barnette and Jura. Hibiki was just shocked over what she did.

"This guy's a bad influence." Barnette moaned. Barnette's eyes suddenly latched onto something strange. She walked over to the strange thing and found a long rope attached to the railing. "Now I see." She whispered. Barnette instantly took firm hold and jumped off, leaving Jura to stare in shock. Hibiki just remained wide eyed until he saw the same thing. With a slight shrug, he followed the team down, leaving a worried Jura behind.

Jura stared down into the black abyss that had swallowed her friends. She began whimpering as she began running around the room in worry.

"_Jura, take the rope and slid down." _Barnette told her over the radio. Jura blinked and then looked down at the railing to see a rope. She gave a little chuckle as she grabbed hold and dropped down.

(-)

"Is everyone here now?" Rain moaned. Jura grumbled a "Yes" while the others just moaned a response. "Good, now let's get moving." He growled. The team shrugged and followed the young man through a series of corridors. A few corridors had a small amount of bodies, but nothing to great. A large Bio Garden could be seen out of one of the many windows in some hallways.

"How much longer until we get there?" Jura asked.

"Just two more corridors and one large door I'll have to blow." Rain told her. Barnette smirked at the sound of that.

"What kind of explosives you got?" Barnette questioned.

"A special type of C4 that was built with a electromagnetic pulse that will neutralize the safety second door that activates incase of an emergency." Rain told her. "For the record, this door will probably come flying at us when I detonate the explosive, because of its secondary effect. The explosive will pull the suronding area into itself before throwing it away. So, keep your heads down and stay hidden." 

"Great." Jura moaned. _Yeah, this guy's trouble. _

"Why would you use such an explosive?!" Hibiki screamed.

"In hopes of killing you." He seethed. Hibiki paled while Barnette wondered if he meant all of them or just Hibiki. Barnette stopped thinking bout it as they come across nine bodies.

Rain knelt down beside them as he shook his head. "Damn." He whispered.

"You know them?" Meia asked. Rain nodded. "What Cell do they belong to?"

"They belong to Cell Blade Wing and Cell Fire Wing. This is the strike force that was sent here to find Cole and the pod." Rain stated. "I wonder why there's nine here though." He questioned. Meia opened her mouth to say something. "Never the less, we'll have to deal with it later." Rain stood up. "Come on, this way."

Meia looked down at the nine soldiers that had suffered from a series of large cuts, being skewered, and from the look of two corpses, sucked dry. With a slight low moan, she walked off, leaving the strange bodies behind.

"So how much longer until we reach the Reactor Room?" Jura asked. Rain turned left down another corridor while Jura continued to talk. "How are we going to turn the power on when the powers off to the whole station?"

"The station's main power will come back on after we replace the six circuit chips on all six tower clusters. If we want the power back on, we have to replace them all. Don't worry, I know how to replace all of them, so don't worry." Rain told them.

"Is that all?" Hibiki moaned.

"Yes."

"Okay then, let's just get this over with." Meia said. _Something feels wrong; this place can't just have a power failure without reason. Something's on this place. Something that's doesn't want us to find something._

Meia was ripped from her thoughts as they approached the door. She took one look at it and then over at Rain who was looking rather confused. The door had been ripped off its hinges and was covered with human bodies. Rain slowly walked over to one of the many corpses.

"I don't think we need to worry about the door now." Hibiki muttered. He scanned one of the bodies, looking at the females' mangled body. She looked no older than fifteen to him. "So many kids." He whispered. He watched Rain pick on up by the throat to look at it. "Hey, don't you have any respect for the dead?!"

"He was like me." He mumbled as he threw the corpses aside. Hibiki just stared as Rain walked over the corpses. Hibiki was at first a little disturbed by his actions, but then figured that he had his reason. What good is showing respect to the dead when you were about to blow up a station filled with dead bodies? He had good reasons for his actions now that they made sense. "Come, we must quicken our pace. The enemy is probably close."

"Why do you say that?" Jura asked.

"Those corpses were fresh. That means that the enemy is somewhere nearby. So keep you eyes pealed please." Rain stated. The team tensed up at that, readying their weapons while looking around into the darkness. "Don't worry, Maya will guide the way."

A bright light appeared from the left wrist PDA as Maya appeared, shining brightly. What was once darkness was now light. Maya seemed like a beacon of hope to the team as they moved to the first tower cluster.

"The Circuit Tower should be to the left." Maya stated. "This way, follow me." She said while floating towards the first tower. The team followed the glowing sphere towards the first tower. Rain walked towards the board that Maya was hover beside while placing his gun on his back. "Here you go. Fix this tower so we can move onto the next one." She told him

Rain shrugged and pulled the hatch open while seating down a few chips. Maya hovered beside certain ones while the others took up a defensive stance. Meia was to the left of Rain, serving as active sharpshooter again. Barnette was on Rain's right, serving as active sniper again. Hibiki was behind him with his back turned to him with Jura doing the same beside him. Rain made quick work of first tower and began leading the team to the next one. Once again the tower was quickly fixed with the team taking up the same stance. After twenty minutes, they had all but the center tower fixed. Rain was still working on the tower, at the moment.

"Come on, how much longer?" Jura wined. Rain slammed the hatch closed as he stood up. "Never mind."

"All systems are now online." Maya announced. The lights slowly began to flicker on, bringing light back to the dark abyss around them. Maya slowly faded away into Rain's PDA as he picked up his weapon to place it on his shoulder. "We should get moving. The longer we stay here, the better chance we have of the beasts finding us." Maya told them.

"Yeah, yeah I hear ya." Rain grumbled. The team slowly began to walk towards the main door that would lead them to the main corridor. Rain caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He stopped and raised his gun towards the target, but found nothing there.

_I could have sworn I just saw…_

"Rain, you see something?" Meia asked. Rain placed his weapon on his shoulder.

"No, I didn't see anything." He told her.

"Well, don't get us that riled up about nothing, okay?" Hibiki told him. Rain just growled as he walked through the team and towards the door.

_I did see something there though. I know I saw something._

The corridor was lined with bodies, blood, and even animals that had been tested on. Hibiki once again looked down at one of the many bodies. He was staring at a little girl. She couldn't have been any older than eight years old. She was holding onto a brown bear that had a small cut in its belly.

"Hibiki, stop daydreaming, and start following us." Rain stated. "I may want to leave you behind, but these women won't allow me to do such a thing. So hurry up, Small Fry."

"Yeah… I'm coming." Hibiki whispered. Rain narrowed his eyes on the body of the little girl before shrugging and turning to continue down the long corridor.

"So, what kind of weapons can we find on this station?" Barnette asked. She knew that any kind of secret military installation would always have a secret stash of weapons and other military weapons. She was trying to picture some of them as she walked along the path they had been taking for almost two minutes in silence.

"I will not allow any of our weapons to get off this installation in one piece." He stated firmly.

"But what if we run out of ammo?" She pouted.

Rain stopped and stared at her. He had to force himself to not just palm himself in her presence. She was right, and he was now going to have to admit it. "One point to you." He groaned.

"What?" Barnette asked with a grin.

"I said "Up yours"." He shouted. Barnette turned around to face him while getting ready to punch him. Rain pointed his gun at her face at point blank rang. Barnette froze in fear as he made a banging motion with the weapon. "Remember this, I am your key off this station now. So if you can grasp that, than you _are _smarter than what I thought you to be." He stated while turning to leave her. Meia just stared at his retreating form while Jura was snapping Barnette from her fear.

Meia ran up to Rain while Jura helped Barnette get her wits back. "You shouldn't do that." She stated.

"Why do you care what I do, Meia?" He asked. His tone was a strange one. He actually sounded worried about his actions now. Meia was the only one that ever heard him speak like this. She knew very little about him from personal conversation from his own mouth, but she already knew quite a bit from Maya. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." She whispered. Rain looked back at Jura and the rest of the team as they slowly trotted behind them.

"Say, why do you like that man from Taraaku? I thought your kind hated theirs?" Rain whispered. Meia looked back at the team before shrugging and looking over at Rain.

"I don't know, maybe we just needed to understand one another. With the war, I guess we never stopped to try to talk things through. But I guess we really wouldn't since we had taken up that stance for years before finally just giving up and fighting them." She replied.

"You know that war was probably started because a man went to bed with his wife angry at him, right?" Rain questioningly joked.

"What makes you say that?" Meia asked. She had to admit, that did sound kinda funny. Alex had told her stories about his father being forced to sleep on the couch because he mad Asaugi very angry.

"You were once with Alex, I'm sure that you had a few fights were you never let him sleep in your room with you." He inquired.

Meia looked down at the ground at that. "To tell you the truth, I only slept with him once, and that was when we first got together. I can still feel him sometimes, like he's sleeping beside me at night." She rubbed away a single tear. "I still miss him. I wish he was here with us right now."

"You wish that he lived at that I never came with you?" Rain questioned.

"No, I didn't mean it like that. It's just… just that I wish I could see him one last time." She sighed.

"Don't worry about it." Meia looked up at him as they walked near a large door. "I'm sure that one day you'll be reunited with him." Meia nodded as Rain opened the door.

"So… now what." Hibiki asked. Rain shrugged and walked over to the main computer. He placed a Maya's chip in one of the panels on one of the many computers. Maya instantly appeared and began humming to herself. "What is she doing?"

"She's looking for the Life Pod and Dale." Rain told him. "It shouldn't take her too long. Without Dale in the system, she shouldn't have too many problems in finding them." Rain took a seat in one of the chairs. The others shrugged and followed suit.

"I wonder why the enemy hasn't appeared yet?" Jura thought out loud.

"Maybe they left." Barnette suggested.

"No, I'm detecting multiple heat signatures in key areas of the station." Maya stated. Barnette and Jura grumbled over their theory being shot down. Hibiki, Meia, and Rain just shrugged as they went back to waiting for Maya to finish up. Maya suddenly stopped humming as she gave a low "Hm".

"What's wrong?" Rain questioned as he stood up. "Is something wrong?"

"I can't find Dale anywhere." She told him. Rain stared at her blankly. He placed a hand to his chin as he began trying to think of a reason for why he wouldn't be here. "I can't understand it, I have a video shot of him being placed inside one our soldiers."

"What do you…" Rain stopped and spun around with his gun in hand. The others had their guns pointed at the same target. The team just stared at the figure for a few minutes before the figure began to walk towards them. The figure in question was a little girl with dark black hair and a white nightgown with a brown teddy bear. Her hair blocked her face from view.

"It's a little girl." Barnette stated. Rain rolled his eyes as he looked over at Maya. Maya wasn't doing anything at the moment. "Hey there, where are your parents?"

"I'm scared of the dark." The little girl said sadly. "I don't wanna be alone anymore. Please help me." She cried.

"We'll get you out of here. Just stay calm." Jura told her. Jura slowly began to walk over to the little girl, until Rain placed an arm out to stop her. "What are you doing, Rain?"

"Maya, how many life signs do you detect in this room right now?" Rain asked. The team looked over at Rain and then to the little girl. "Maya?" Rain questioned. Rain looked over at the floating sphere with confusion. "Maya, are you okay?"

"All will kneel before me." A dark voice mocked. The team instantly had their weapons pointed around the room. Maya began flickering between red and blue as the new voice continued to speak. "Look at you, defying what you were destined to do. Why must we fight? You are a piece of us, why do you defy us?!"

"What the hell… is happeninggggggg… to… meeeeee???" Maya yelled as she fought for control

"You think _you _have the power to defy me?" The red form of Maya's blue ball form said. "I will have you, the same as that fool before you."

"What did you do to Dale?!" Rain snapped.

"Dale? He is no more. I have him now."

"Rain… me… out… NOW!" Maya gasped. Rain yanked her from the system as he plugged her back into his PDA. "That thing… has Dale." She cried. "He's gone. He's gone."

"Maya, get a hold of yourself." Rain yelled. "Do you at least know where the pod is?!"

"You won't be getting off this place." The voice said.

"Damn it, I pulled you from the system, so how the hell is it talking?" Rain yelled.

"He got Dale, remember?" Maya stated. "What ever that thing is, we can't let it get the pod. We have to get out of here and find that damn thing!"

"You won't be leaving this place alive." The girl said in a demonic sounding voice. The team stopped to stare at the girl. Slowly, more and more girls appeared in the same clothing, with the same hair and same bear. Each of them had blood covering their clothing, missing some limbs, some were standing on their hands since they didn't have any leg or hips. "We will stop you. Your interference in our plans dies here." The girls said in unison.

"Screw you!" Hibiki yelled as he readied his weapon.

"Hibiki, don't fire your weapon!" Rain yelled. "These are only hallow grams, meaning they can't hurt us." Hibiki lowered his weapon after that was said.

"We are lonely. You are lonely. We will die. You will die. All will be right in the universe." The girls sang.

"Rain, this station is officially scary as hell." Jura said while backing up to a nearby corner. The girl continued to sing off tune as the first one that had appeared before them, sank to the floor while clutching her head in fear.

"Make them go away!" She cried.

"Damn it, this isn't helping any!" I yelled. "Come on, we're getting out of here!" She yelled as she ran towards the door. The mass of blood soaked hallow grams faded away as she walked through them. As soon as I reached the door, the power went out again. Jura's girly scream echoed through the command station for a few moments. "Damn it all, what the hell just happened?!"

"Emergency power isn't coming on?!" Rain yelled in confusion. "I guess I either screwed up the circuits or this station has new guests that don't want _us _getting off alive."

"No really, you think?" Hibiki mocked as he began feeling the wall for something that felt like a door. "Rain, I, where are you?"

"I'm in the middle of the room." Rain stated. "Maya, can you give us a little light?" Maya appeared slowly, shinning the room again. Jura sighed in relief as she walked over to the team. "Now what?" The walls instantly began to crack from something outside the room. The team raised their weapons at the large crack that was slowly getting bigger with each new hit.

The wall instantly gave, flooding the room with a bright light from the corridor. A tall dark shadow stood before them. Rain was the first to recover from the light adjust meant to see the figure standing in the hallway. "Son of a bitch."

(-)

"The power just went off again?" Amarone stated. Magno bit her bottom lip at this. For the last ten minutes, they had been watching a large level of power flocculation's that didn't make sense. The power would turn on, but then turn off in another area of the station. The power would then die all over the station, except for one area. When the power came back on, the room that had been the only one not affected by the power surge, seemed to become stronger. When the power went off around the station, it became weaker, but at the same time, still received power from a strange energy source that had yet to be detected. The only reason it was odd, was that Parfait pointed out that nothing could do that, except for the backup power supply, stating that it would only go to the most important structures on the station or ship. What it was doing was making no sense, and to make matter worse, a large number of heat signatures, both new and old had been appeared from no where.

"This isn't good." Magno whispered. "Alright, Bart, we need to leave this area. We'll begin heading out like we did last time, only this time we aren't stopping until we've heard that thing go boom. You barely got us to a safe distance from the last blast."

"But Captain, if we leave them behind, they could…"

"They have Rain with them." BC told Celtic. Celtic looked over at BC with confusion written on her face. She had taken a small liking to the strange SWAT soldier, in a way that she didn't understand. Amarone was having the same problem since she was talking to him just as much as Meia, only he was slightly nicer to Meia than them.

"Asaugi did say that he is the best of his generation." Ezra reminded. "I'm sure they'll be okay."

_Let's hope so. _BC thought.

_Our planets are relying on this mission. If we don't succeed, then we can kiss our homes goodbye. _Magno thought.

(-)

An explosion echoed through the confines of the station. They came bursting through the cloud of smoke and debris at full speed as they ran from the Command Station. They had no intentions of staying to fight whatever the new arrival was. What ever it was, it was resistant to ever type of ammo they had shot at it. They were just lucky that the thing was really slow, or they might have been in serious trouble.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Barnette yelled. She was running beside Meia at the moment. Rain was up front with Hibiki close behind him. Meia was running just a few feet back from Hibiki while Barnette was running beside Jura and Meia. Jura was just a few inches behind her.

"I don't know, but I'm sticking around to find out!" Rain hollered.

"Damn it, that thing took almost every shot in the face and it still didn't go down!" Hibiki shouted. "What the hell kind of monster is that?! Those rounds should have killed it! Alex said that our weapons can penetrate through anything!"

"Apparently," the wall in front of them exploded as the new arrival appeared. "…those weapons can't." Rain grumbled.

The new arrival was just as scary and freaky as the last two. The thing stood on all four with the same tail as the other two, but where theirs were flat, this one was round with a jagged base. Its feet featured three toes with long claws, while the front feet had a fourth claw that was longer then the other three on them. The thing had a large muscle mass to it, giving it almost brutish strength. Its skin was a desert sand color, with small thorns or spikes covering it body. While the skin looked rather frail, it was actually rather strong. Only a handful of bullets had actually penetrated its skin, which generated the same blood as the other two. Its head was medium sized with a long maw that reminded Rain of a dragon. A large row of teeth had that idea grounded with no questions asked since each tooth looked razor sharp. Instead of one eye, the creature had two eyes that shined a golden color. The beast stood no taller than an average adult bear. All in all, the thing really didn't look like it had any special function like the other two had.

"Oh shit!" Hibiki yelled as he pulled the trigger on his weapon. The bullets just bounced off the strange beast and fell to the floor. The team continued to fire at the new beast, until they all began running out of ammo. Hibiki was the first, and quickly yelled, "I'M OUT!" at the top of his lungs.

"Run!" Rain cried as he holstered his weapon. The team quickly did the same as Rain ran up to the beast and jumped over the beast while throwing a long blade into both of its front paws. The team took their chance to get around it after Rain pinned its two paws to the ground. Once they were on the other side, the team began running for their lives as they tried to escape the strange beast.

"Berserker." Maya calmly stated.

"WHAT?!" Rain yelled. The rest of the team just looked at the PDA that held Maya after she said that. "What are you talking about?"

"I think we should name it, "Berserker"." She restated calmly. Rain had half a mind to just throw her back into the system to fight whatever it was that was in the system. "The thing has brutish strength, isn't affected by any form of ballistics we have, and looks like a bear/dragon."

"Maya, this really isn't the time to be coming up with names for odd things that I'm not ever going to reflect on!" Rain yelled as he turned the corner. The team was following close behind as he made the turn.

"I just think that we should classify our findings to…"

"Maya, not…now!" Meia yelled slowly. The AI faded back into the PDA from wince it came. "Is she always like that?"

"Only on Thursdays and every other day!" Rain replied.

"Does she know where the pod is?" Jura asked.

"Maya, where the hell is that pod?" Barnette snapped.

"I was unable to find the pod." She replied.

"How about this, just look for the most heavily infected area, and we'll start there?" Hibiki suggested. The team turned the corner again as they continued to run for their lives.

"I never thought of that." Maya told them. A low humming sound instantly filled their ears as Maya began searching for the said place.

"You know something," Hibiki began. One of the first sighting creatures appeared down at the end of the corridor. Barnette shot it before it could call for reinforcements. "For a smart AI, she sure is dumb."

"Hibiki, for once I agree with you on something!" Rain stated with a grin. The team got to where the beast had died and looked down the three corridors they had. They could keep going straight, turn to the left, or turn to the right. Rain looked down the three before saying, "Let's go left!" while turning to head the said direction.

"NO," Maya yelled. "Head right and then take a left when you get to the second T section!" Maya yelled. Rain stopped, spun around, and went the said direction. The team didn't waste any time in yelling at him and the AI before turning to head the other way. "This path will lead us right to the main force that is guarding something."

"This idea of yours seems to make sense Hibiki." Jura stated.

"Thanks." He replied. "Now if we can only get through them, that's the only problem with my idea." Hibiki finished.

"Don't worry; we'll take them one at a time." Meia told him. The team nodded as they took a left at the said T section. When they got to the said location, they weren't too surprised by the sight before them. Hundreds of the strange beasts were clawing at a purple barrier that was protecting a door. It was the same ones from the previous station, along with the new arrival.

"Jezz, how are we going to deal with that many?" Hibiki whispered.

"Like I said before, one step at a time." Meia replied. She looked over at Rain for some kind of a plan. Rain was too busy staring at the strange beasts to truly care about the look she was giving him. "Rain, is there another way into that room?"

Rain turned to look at Meia with a strange expression. He placed a hand to his chin as he tried to think of a way in. He knew a few ways in, but was worried about someone yelling at him over something that was something that most women never liked to hear. "Yeah." He whispered.

"Then how?" Jura questioned. Rain looked up at a ventilation shaft with a brow raised. Jura followed his gaze and instantly paled. "Are you serious?" Rain nodded. "I can't fit in there. Besides, there's probably bugs and other creepy aliens like these ones."

"Well then tough luck, because that's the only other way in. Most of the beasts seem to big to fit in there anyways." Rain stated. Rain turned back to the shaft to see Meia already climbing in. "I can see now why Alex loved her." Rain mumbled as he followed her into the shaft. Hibiki was close behind while Barnette brought up the rear after getting Jura to go in.

"Man, this is a tight fit." Hibiki mumbled.

"Deal with it." Meia stated. "Maya, how much further until we're in the room?" 

"Not much further." She answered. "Take a left up here." She ordered. Meia nodded and took a left at a T section in the shaft. "I wonder what would be so important to these beasts that they would try to get a hold of one life pod?"

"They probably just want to destroy it so they can make sure there were no survivors." Barnette suggested. "That would make sense if you think about it."

"No, these things didn't leave the colony we first encountered them on after they killed everyone." Maya stated. "Those ones killed everything a few days before you all arrived. These ones have been hear for about a week now. Those survivors were people that had gone into hiding quite well until the Strike Force appeared to help." 

"Who cares why they're here." Rain grumbled. "The only thing that matters is destroying them and getting off this station in one piece." 

"Same here." Meia stated.

"Here." Maya said. Meia looked down into one of the open air vents and found the room completely untouched by the enemy hostiles. She punched the vent open and dropped into the room. The others quickly followed suit. "Here we are. This is the life pod." Maya stated.

"All this for a life pod?" Rain questioned. The creatures banging on the door instantly became louder. Rain placed his gun on a control panel while playing with the keyboard. "The life pod is still showing all green. Whoever's in there is still okay." He told them with a smile.

"How do we get it out though?" Jura asked.

Rain placed a hand to his ear as he activated a radio. "This is Rain. Magno, we have the life pod. Are you still in the area?"

"_Rain, oh thank goodness. We thought we lost you after the power started going crazy." _Ezra said. _"Yes, we're still in the area, but we moved to a new location after we got attacked. Where are you?"_

"We're the infirmary on cell block three. We have the life pod and need you to get it out of here." Rain told her.

"_What about Dale? Have you found the AI yet?" _

"No, we're fixing to head back out to find him after you get the pod." Rain looked over at the team while motioning for them to take cover. "Listen, we can't get out right now, so you're going to have to catch the pod once I break the windows."

"Are you insane?!" Barnette yelled. "Without the window, we won't have any air to breath, not to mention that we'll all be sucked out into space!"

"Just trust me." He moaned. He placed his hand back on his ear as he continued. "Listen, don't worry about us. This station has emergency doors that activate when something breaks. When I break the glass, the system will instantly close the hole with a large door."

"_Understood." _

"Okay, before they get here, we need to move the pod closer to the window. Once we get it there, I'll take over." The team nodded as they began moving the pod closer to the window. "Once we get it there, I need you to head back out." Rain handed them a strange disk. "Here, this is a Camouflage pack that will keep the enemy from seeing you. Be careful though, if you move, they may see you. It won't cover up any scents though, so just be careful not to make any unwanted smells."

"What about you?" Barnette asked.

"I'll stay here and blast the window so the pod can get out." He replied nonchalantly.

"Rain, you can't be serious?" Meia questioned. Rain just waved a hand to dismiss her from the room. "Rain," Rain looked over at Meia when she said that. She sounded so worried about him. Rain just waited for her to finish. "Please, just come back okay? I don't want to lose you either." She whispered. Rain nodded and helped her get into the shaft to leave.

_Don't worry about me, I'll be okay. _

"_Okay Rain, we're in position and waiting for the pod. We have Gascgone out in her Delivery craft to catch the pod. Just be careful alright?" _Ezra stated.

"Rodger that." Rain placed his back to one of the pillars that were in the room. He made sure that he was on the other side of the pillar so he wouldn't be sucked out into space. He took one final breath, turned his gun to face the window, and fired a few rounds at it. The window shattered instantly. Everything became a blur to him at that moment as he waited for the doors to shut. After two seconds, he heard the door slam shut and everything that was about to go flying out of the room, smashed to the floor.

"_Rain, are you alright?" _Meia and Ezra asked over the radio.

"Yeah…" he coughed. "I'm… fine…" He coughed again. "Did you get… the life pod?" He continued to cough.

"_Yeah, we got it." _Gascgone stated. _"Good work kiddo. Now hurry up and get that little friend of yours so we can get out of here."_

"We still have to set this place to blow though. So you had better leave this area now." He replied.

"_Roger that. Gascgone out." _

Rain sighed in relief as he slumped to his knees. He was still short on breath, but he knew that he would soon get it back. He moaned after a few more seconds before getting to his feet. It was going to be a long day for him. Yet somehow, he didn't truly care.

"_Rain, can you get back?" _Barnette asked. Rain chuckled at the sound of her being worried for him.

"Yeah… I'm on my way." He whispered as he jumped up to grab hold of the shaft to climb in. "Let's finish this mission."

A/N

Sorry about the site not working, but I can't figure out how to post it. Sorry. The station fight will end in the next chapter, so expect some more strange things again.

As always, Read and Review.


	4. Last one out, Get the lights

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 4 Last one out get the lights

The team had finally got back together and was now creeping through the station back towards the Command Station. Hibiki was a little down about not having any ammo left, causing him to be a little depressed. Barnette was in the same bind, but she still had two clips left. She knew it wouldn't last her too long, since the enemy had greater numbers than them. Meia was down to one clip, along side with Rain at the moment. Jura had lost her weapon when the first beast, Berserker, appeared and knocked it away. Since they figured the Command Station would be the best place to hide for reason that Rain wouldn't give.

"So, why do you think we should return to the Command Room again?" Barnette asked. Rain grumbled as he walked into the room while taking a seat at one of the chairs. "Why did you suggest this if you have no reason for wanting to come here?"

"We know that this place has only one entrance, so that means we'll be able to see them before they can do anything. It will also give us a chance to think of an attack plan. While we do this, we can have Maya go back in to the system to find Dale." Rain told them.

"What kind of AI is he?" Meia asked.

"He's the smartest of the original five." Rain told her as he plugged Maya back into the system. "There were only five, now there are only two originals and two new ones. Their names of the original two are, Dale and Cole. Dale belongs to Blood. Cole belongs to Willow. Cole has the patients of an old man, though he is only twenty years old, he is sometimes viewed as a wise man. Cole was designed to help translate for Willow since she doesn't like learning new languages. Dale is the smartest, and is often viewed as the meanest. Some people have called him a genius for some of his battle strategies he's come up with."

"He's the smartest of the all AI's?" Hibiki asked.

"Yeah, that's why we need to find him. He'll even be able to help you in making Battle Strategies, Meia." Rain told her before looking over at Jura with a strange expression. "The two knew AI's are called, Maya and Spark. Spark disappeared just a week after you destroyed the first station. It's assigned person went missing the same day as well. He was designed to be the ultimate hacker. He was given to Ryu Ringan, the pilot for the ZGMF X42S Destiny. As for Maya, she was given to Alex. She was designed for the soul purpose of stealth interface with all forms of technology. Since she doesn't need to actually be placed into the station, she can easily interface with anything that she needs to. Alex's suit was also given the same ability for all of his stealth missions he began taking up a few years ago."

"So why would you put her chip in if she doesn't need to have that done?" Meia asked.

"This gives her more power over the system when she gets detected. Though she normally never does, for someone to find her in the system after twenty seconds, I figured she would need all the power she could against that. The only reason she wasn't able to fight him last time was because she wasn't prepared for someone new to be in the system." Rain explained.

"I don't want to be alone anymore." Said the little girl from before. "I'm afraid of the dark."

"We get that." Rain moaned. "Maya, do you have any idea on what she wants?"

"Unfortunately, I do not." She replied. "I find it odd though; she only has a few words and sentences that she can say. It's like she was programmed that way. How odd."

"What is your function?" Jura questioned.

"I am afraid of the dark." She answered. Jura looked at the little girl for a few seconds before sighing.

"Maya, do you know what she can say?" Meia asked.

"Her speech patterns are locked to a set of verbal keys. As for what she says, that is unknown."

"What is your reason for existing in this world?" Barnette questioned.

"I'm afraid of the dark. I don't wanna be alone." She replied. Barnette placed a hand to her chin as she began trying to think of an answer to this strange riddle. She had to admit, it was kind of strange for something like this to say these sorts of things. She still felt like the answer was right there hitting her in the face, but she just couldn't understand it.

"Maya, any idea on what those new ones are weak to?" Hibiki asked.

"You mean the Berserkers?" She questioned.

"Yeah."

"Unfortunately, I have no idea on what they're weak against." She paused as she spun around the room for a second. She stopped in front of the little girl. "Tell me, do you, know what they're weak against?"

"Roses are red, Violets are blue. What was once old is now new." She sang. The team stared at the little girl out of confusion. Maya began humming again as she began scanning the station again for Dale.

"What does that mean?" Jura asked. Barnette had to admit, she was stumped over that. She thought she had heard just about every riddle there ever was, but this one was way out there, even for her.

"Any ideas Rain?" Meia asked. Rain was replaying the song as he tried to figure it out. Meia knew that he liked riddles since she had found him in his room with a riddle book one day, alongside a math book that she didn't even know was a type of math. Rain stated that despite the fact that he worked in the military, he was still going to school so that he had some kind of future where he could do other things besides fight.

"It's a riddle about our technology." He stated as he stood up. "Roses are red; that means that bullets make red blood." Barnette and Meia nodded at this. Hibiki was too busy staring at the girl. "Violets are blue; I think what she was talking about was Plasma based weapons. All Plasma weapons we've made shoot blue plasma. That's what that means. What was once old, meaning those weapons, is now new. That means that the old weapons we have on here, that we never use anymore, will work on them." Hibiki looked at him in confusion. Rain caught the look and answered. "Plasma burns people, but if you turn up the heat on it, it can practically melt flesh in two shots."

"Is there any armory around here that we can get it at?" Barnette asked.

"Yes, directly three floors bellow that is." Maya announced. Rain nodded and walked over to the control panel he placed Maya in. "If I'm reading this right, Dale is no longer in the system, meaning that what ever that thing from before was, either grabbed him like he said he did, been moved to a new station and we haven't seen or heard from him yet, or he's in a body that doesn't have a transmitter like your PDA." Maya stated before she was pulled. Rain placed her back in his PDA so she could finish. "But chances are, he's in one of the Strike Force members, and that means we'll be corpse diving."

"Let's hit the armory first." Rain suggested. "If we get there, then we can mow down any inhuman son of bitch, dumb enough to get between us, Dale, and our ship."

"Agreed." They replied in unison.

"Alright then, Maya, lead the way." Meia ordered.

"Gladly; turn left out here, then take a right after crossing the first T section. After that, there'll be a large flight of stairs, but I think you can take the elevator now." Maya stopped as soon as Hibiki complained about the elevator music from before. "You'll just have to deal with it." She moaned. Hibiki grumbled as she continued. "Once you're down, I'll explain the directions further. Now go."

Rain nodded and looked out of the large hole/door that the Berserker had made. He motioned for the team to move up as he spun around into the corridor, aiming his weapon as he went. Barnette took up a position next to Jura beside the wall where Rain once was. Meia was beside Rain with Hibiki to her side, checking the rear. When they were all out, they nodded to continue the mission. Rain moved up first, heading straight down the corridor, checking every angle as he ran down the center. Meia was behind him, with Hibiki close behind. Once again, Jura and Barnette were close together and bringing up the rear.

"Right here, take a right, right here." Maya said.

The team stopped and filed behind Rain. Rain peeked his head around the corner to see if there were any unwanted monsters on the other side. There was two Special Forces units in the center of the hallway. Rain moaned as he looked down at his pouch. He had half a clip left, no grenades, a bag full of strange tricks, and a few good soldiers. He slowly turned around to look at them.

"We've got two of the Special units in the center. I don't have any grenades, and only a few tricks up my sleeve." Rain whispered. Meia bite her bottom lip. "Barnette, you got anything that could take it out?" Barnette shook her head. "Damn it. We gotta think of something, because I don't wanna use the C4 just yet. I'd rather wait and use it, rather than use it now and need it later."

"Is there another way to the armory?" Jura asked. Rain shook his head while turning back around to look back out at the hallway. The strange monsters were still there.

"What if we shot the floor out from under them or dropped the roof on them." Hibiki whispered. Rain thought about that for a minute before shaking his head.

"No, we need to conserve ammo. There's no telling on how many of these morons could be waiting for us at the bottom of the elevator." Meia stated. "We need to sneak past them somehow."

"What about that Camo thingy?" Jura whispered. Rain perked up at that. "Couldn't we use that to get away from them or around them?"

"Yeah, but the problem is that it can't hide all of us, meaning some of us might get eaten." Rain stated. Rain began thinking about a way to use the device. He looked back at the strange beasts that were starting to walk in circles. "How fast are they?"

"What?" Meia questioned.

"How fast are they? Could they catch up to any of you when you tried to runaway from them?" The team looked between each other before nodding. "So there slow?" The team gave him a mild response to that. "Okay then, hears the plan. I'll take the Camo and lure them away while you run to the elevator with Maya guiding you." Rain pulled his left PDA off and handed it to Meia. Meia slowly took it and placed it on her wrist while Jura handed him the device. "Listen, don't worry about me. I'll catch up as soon as I can. Have Maya crack the password to the armory so you can get the weapons. Don't come searching for me. Just wait in the armory for me." The team nodded as he placed the device in his pouch.

Rain took a deep breath and ran out into the open, yelling, "Come and get me, you bastards!" as he began running to the left of the team. The strange beasts just roared at him before giving chase. The team stood still against the wall, hoping they could melt into it or something when the monsters ran by without noticing them. Meia breathed a sigh of relief as she checked to make sure that nothing was coming. When she was convinced that nothing was, she motioned for them to follow her.

One by one they ran towards the elevator that sat coiled by the staircase. Meia looked back at the end of the corridor before punching the elevator door open. The team moaned as they took up their defensive position again while waiting for the elevator to show. A few seconds later, the elevator arrived and the team jumped in. Hibiki instantly complained about the music, causing Maya to grown at his pickiness towards music.

Once they were down to their designated area, the door opened, and Meia beat Barnette to shooting the first monster they had found on the first station in the face. Maya once again, came up with a strange name as she preferred to call them, "Grunts" since they seemed to be high in numbers, and not very smart. Meia took up Rain's position in yelling at the AI about it not being the right time or place to name things. With a heavy sigh, Maya began giving directions again.

"Okay, in order to get to the armory, we need to take a short cut." She began. "The best way is to go two corridors down, then turn left at the third T section, and then run as fast as you can to the armory. The number on the door is 501, so you can't miss it."

"Anything else we need to know about?" Hibiki asked.

"Yes, there are at least eighteen of those Special Forces units guarding the hallway we need to go down. That's why I said we need to run as fast as we can." Maya stated. Meia groaned as she looked around the first corridor they came to.

"Is there anyway around them?" Hibiki asked.

"Sorry, but no there is not." Maya told them. "If you can out run them, like you did before, you might be able to get to the armory before they catch you."

"But we still need to worry about the password." Barnette stated. "Rain said you needed to crack it when we get there. How can we put you in the system so you're strong enough to fight back that thing from before if it shows up, while we're running for our lives?"

"I can wirelessly transmit myself into the system so that I can crack it. It won't take me more then a few seconds to crack it. I can have the door open before you get there. Just remember to run like hell and you'll be fine." Maya said before flickering away. Meia lowered her arm as she looked around the corner to the said number of monsters. She counted them just to make sure that Maya was right on her count.

She was right. There were eighteen of them and they all looked rather hungry. Meia sighed as she looked back at her team. "Let's go." She whispered. The team nodded and followed Meia as she ran out of her hiding spot, and straight towards the said monsters. The monsters roared as the team appeared. They were lucky that the monsters were rather slow on response time to their evasion tactics. The team was lucky that they were faster than them, and that the creatures were also rather stupid since they often ran into each other or speared themselves.

Meia made it to the other end of the corridor where they were greeted by the same girl from before. Meia quickly ran in, turned to the team, and saw that they were slowly making their way through the slew of monsters. Hibiki was the closes to her and having a hard time in dealing with them.

Hibiki went sliding through in between the legs of the last Special Forces unit before sliding up right onto his feat to finish running into the room. Once he was inside, he started panting hard. "I… can't remember… the last time… I ran that hard." He gasped. Meia nodded as she watched Jura run into the room. Jura too crashed to the ground as she began catching her breath. Meia looked over at Barnette and gasped when she found her cornered.

"Shit!" She yelled as she began looking for a weapon. Barnette let out a painful cry, forcing her to look faster.

Barnette cried in pain as the long scythe blade left her side. The large beast readied its weapon again, ready to end her life. Barnette looked up as the blade began falling to hit her head. She closed her eyes as she waited for the white light that would take her to Heaven. She stopped when she felt nothing. She opened her eye to see the long weapon broken in half and laying on the ground. The beast didn't waste anytime on the new development, and sliced its wrist, letting its blood spill to the floor. Barnette was still in to much pain to move, and was forced to just watch as the blood began to melt the floor. Within two seconds, the floor broke loose and she fell through. Barnette screamed in fear as she fell to her certain death, but stopped when something grabbed her arm She looked up to see Rain leaning over the side, her wrist in hand, and his other hand clutching the floor to keep them from falling.

"You know, I knew someone that never asked me for help too." Rain grunted as he smiled down at her. Barnette just stared at him for a moment before her face contorted in pain and she instinctually grabbed her wounded gut. A barrage of blue lights went whistling above them. Rain looked up to see the last Special Forces Unit falling to the ground dead. "Shit." He whispered.

"Interesting weapons you guys make." Hibiki stated as he walked over the two pilots with a smirk on his face. Rain just grumbled a low, "Screw you" as he began swinging back and forth before finally throwing Barnette to the floor. Barnette cried in pain as she landed. Rain soon joined her, gasping for air as he held his left shoulder. "You two okay?" Hibiki asked.

"I got hit… in the side…" Barnette winced in pain as Rain helped her up. "I just need… some rest." She stated. Rain nodded as he helped her into the room while going to the back of it to look for something. Meia went to her side as she began helping her take her top off. Barnette guessed she was lucky that she was wearing a bra today when Meia got her suit off.

The wound was at least three to four inches long and had gone all the way through her. The exit wound was smaller though, no bigger than a half an inch. Rain came back with a bunch of bandages and a blue stick. Rain laid her down as he pulled the blue stick out and put it on the top of the wound. Barnette gasped in pain as a purple laser stung her flesh.

"This will close the wound." Rain calmly stated. "Its super heats the flesh and melds it together before rapidly cooling it to make sure no cell damage happens. This is normally used in surgeries to help in the recovery rate." Rain helped her sit up so he could get to her back. Rain quickly closed the wound. He smiled as he finished up before putting the tool away and picking up some bandages. His eyes caught site of a two inch scar that was in her gut on the left side. From the place it sat, it would have definitely cut one of her Ovaries in half. Rain closed his eyes as he finished wrapping her wounds up. Barnette blushed slightly as she had him help her put her clothes on.

"We should start taking things slowly for now." Rain stated. Meia nodded as she looked over at the closed door, wondering if the enemy was outside waiting for them. She sighed as she stopped thinking about it.

"Well, we made it to the armory, so now what?" Hibiki asked. Rain stood up and walked to the back of the room. Hibiki sighed as he finally got a look at the room. It was the same as before, only this one had strange weapons that he didn't know they were.

"So, what now?" Barnette asked as she winced in pain again. She looked down at her side with a scowl on her face. She looked over at Rain with a sad face. She now felt bad about all the bad things she had said to him since he had joined up with them. But still, she did have to admit, he was a total jerk.

"We need to take things slow so you don't tear the soft flesh I just mended together." He stated calmly. Barnette nodded at this as she gripped her side slightly. "We should rest for a minute before heading out again. This'll give us a chance to think of a plan to figure out where Dale is."

"Where do you think he is though?" Hibiki questioned. "Maya said she couldn't detect him anymore, so that means he's dead, right?"

"No, he's still here." Rain whispered as he pointed to something. The team looked back to see the same girl. Rain ran a hand through his hair as he sighed and looked at some of the weapons. "Man, this is really getting strange."

"Hey, what's this?" Rain looked over at Hibiki as he pointed to something on the computer. "Why is there a computer in here? I don't remember seeing one on the other two stations. What gives?"

"Some installations have computers in every room." Maya said. "Though, I am more curious about this power build up on the screen." Hibiki looked at where she was floating by. A large purple pulse was slowly emitted around a room on the ship. "If I'm analyzing this right, it would appear that all the emergency power was being diverted to that location."

"What is it?" Jura asked.

"It's the infirmary." She answered. 

Rain looked over at the screen as he slowly walked to it. "That's the place where the pod was." He mussed. The team looked over at him. "It all makes sense now." He whispered.

"What makes sense?" Barnette questioned.

"Why the emergency power wasn't coming on. It wasn't blown or anything, it was being diverted there to keep that barrier up at all times."

"Why?" Jura asked.

"To keep the pod safe. Dale must have known that someone would send a team of soldiers to rescue him and the pod, and since he can't control the system while he'd be away, he made sure to divert all power from the emergency generators to it incase the power went out." Rain walked over to the little girl. "He also left us a clue to his whereabouts." He motioned the girl. "You're Dale, aren't you?"

"I am me. I am only myself." She answered.

"Only Dale would do something like this. He's been right here this whole time I just didn't see him." Rain said with a smile.

"But how can that be?" Meia asked. "Maya said he was no longer in the station. This can't be him. Unless…"

"Unless he left a piece of himself in the system to help anyone that came here to find them." Barnette finished. She smiled at the little girl. "But why can't he tell us where he is if he's still in the system?"

"It's because he constantly gives people riddles when he wants to get a good laugh." Rain said with a grin. "As to why he can't just tell us, I think it has something to do with his selection of words he can say."

"Why do you say that?" Hibiki questioned.

"Think about it. Dale has lived in this station for years now, so diverting power circuits would be rather simple. That's why the door had that strange barrier on it. It makes sense when you think about it. As for where he is, he's obviously in someone that doesn't have a transmitter like my PDA, or he would have been detected when Maya went into the system."

"But what makes you think this is him?" Meia asked.

"I don't know, it just makes sense." Rain stated.

"Yeah right." Barnette grumbled.

"No, it makes sense." Hibiki stated. The others looked at him in confusion. "This girl is the person he was placed in. I remember seeing a little girl when we first got here. I saw her after we left the reactor room. He's has to be there."

"Are you sure?" Jura questioned.

"He's right." Rain stated as he looked over at Hibiki. "I remember seeing her after we left. That was when I saw her for the first time. I saw her just as we were leaving the Reactor Room before we found all of those bodies."

"So all we have to do is get back to the area, retrieve Dale, set the detonation sequence, and then run like hell to the hanger." Meia stated.

"Okay, but what about weapons?" Barnette questioned.

Rain smirked and walked over to a nearby case and picked up a large weapon. He placed the weapon on his back. (A/N. This weapon looks like the Spartan Laser from Halo 3. It will be one of the two weapons I'll use from Halo 3. It's just not as big as the actual weapon and doesn't have that five second charge time.) Rain smiled and picked up another weapon and threw it to Meia. Meia smiled and looked at it for a few seconds before placing the weapon on her back. (A/N. This is the last weapon. This weapon looks like the Plasma Cannon and is not as big as it actually is. Both weapons are as big as the standard M14 Carbine.)

"What about us?" Jura asked. Rain smirked and broke a glass case below the holder that held the first two weapons. He reached in and pulled out two weapons that Barnette remembered quite well.

"Hey, that's the AS50 Sniper Rifle that Alex converted to Semi Auto." She stated. "But how can that help us? We already know that they don't work against the new ones."

"Easy, these ones shoot plasma like these ones." He replied with a grin as he threw the weapon to Jura. "Don't worry; they don't kick like the ballistic rounds do." Rain assured her.

"Thanks." She muttered.

Rain sighed and pulled out the same two weapons from before and handed them to Hibiki and Barnette. Barnette smiled and cocked the weapon before putting it on her back. Hibiki grinned and did the same, but decided to keep his in his hands. Rain looked over at Barnette as she walked over to another case. Rain watched as she broke the case and picked up a few grenades. She threw a few to Rain with a brow raised. Rain looked at them for a few seconds before throwing them back. Barnette just sighed as she placed her new tools of destruction in her teal covered vest that she got from the first station.

"So, got a plan?" Maya asked.

"I figured we'd just shoot our way there." Rain stated with a smile. Maya just groaned. "If that doesn't work, then we'll run like hell all the way to the corpse."

"Okay, let's go." Hibiki stated. The team nodded and Maya opened the door. Barnette shot the new arrival, Berserker, in the face with a plasma round that melted it away. No one stopped to stare as the corpse smashed into the ground while they ran back to the elevator.

The team stopped short as a new arrival appeared. This one was by far the strangest looking one they had ever seen. The creature had large bat wings that had a wing span of four feet. The thing had a long flat tail like the first two monsters, only this one didn't have the point at the end. Instead it had a club on the end with a bunch of spikes. It slithered on the ground like a snake since it didn't have any back legs to walk on. It had two long arms that had the same kind of claws like the Special Forces units, only these weren't as long as theirs, just about two feet in length. Its head truly resembled a dragons', and its skin was just the same, scaly and hard. The creature had one eye that was yellow with a golden pyramid for a pupil. A large row of teeth finished the large beast, giving it the creepy appearance.

"Snargons." Rain stated.

"Excuse me?" Maya snapped.

"You named the last one; I get to name this one." Rain stated. Maya could be heard growling as Rain began chuckling at the mad AI. Meia was about to yell at him, but the strange beast flew into the air and began flying towards them. Rain smirked, raised his weapon, and blasted a large wave of energy into the mouth of the creature, expanding the creature into a large balloon before popping.

"Jezz, that thing is cool!" Hibiki gasped with a large smile.

"Yeah, remind me to never get in front of that damn thing." Jura gasped.

"Can do." Rain replied with a large grin. Two more of the strange beasts appeared from behind. Meia spun around and opened up with a volley of blue pelts that melted them into Swiss cheese.

"Holy crap that thing is cool!" Barnette yelled with a grin. Meia just smiled as she placed the weapon on her back. The team just smiled at their new weapons before running down the corridor towards the elevator again.

Rain was up front, leading the way with Maya to guide him. Meia was behind him, blasting anything that got in their way, away with deadly accuracy. Barnette was following closely behind them, shooting the weaker monsters that were further ahead with dead on accuracy that Rain swore would put Blood to shame. Jura was doing the same as Barnette with Hibiki. The team was doing really well and finally made it to their destination without having anything get in their way.

Rain pressed the button to call for the elevator while the team watched out for their unwanted guests. "Anything?" he questioned.

"Yeah, nothing but white walls." Hibiki joked. Rain forced himself to not shoot Hibiki for being an idiot. "Hey, you asked." He defended.

The elevator door opened and the team filed in. The team was once again forced to deal with the strange elevator music that always seemed to play. The door opened, Hibiki and Jura shot the new monster in the face, killing it instantly, and then ran like their lives depended on it. The team pasted the Reactor Room on the way. For some reason, they were once again running away from a Special Forces unit. The creature might have been a twin of the one they ran into at the first station since it crashed into a wall after the team shot the door loose to run through it.

The team stood against the wall as they breathed a sigh of a relief. They just sat there as they waited for they had their air again.

"I swear that thing is as dumb as the last one." Hibiki gasped. The team gave a low laugh as they slowly stood up. "Okay, she should be around here somewhere."

The team nodded and slowly began looking for the body. Hibiki took over near the corner where a large number of dead bodies lay against the wall. Barnette was looking near a wall that had a bunch of kids holding onto their parents and soldiers. Meia was making sure that nothing got in behind them. Rain was doing the same further down near the Strike Force that had been sent in. Jura was just looking at the many faces of children, men, and women.

"Damn, not her either." Hibiki whispered. Hibiki sighed as he looked over at another body. It wasn't her either. He looked over at an area that Barnette was walking towards. His eyes caught sight of something strange moving across the area. Hibiki stopped and watched as the strange thing flickered around the room. It vanished around the corner. Hibiki followed it as the same thing continued to flicker around the room. Hibiki soon found himself staring down at something strange.

_Loneliness._ Hibiki thought. _He's alone, and stuck in the form of the person he's bound to. He wants to be free of the thing that binds him to this station, but I think at the same time, he never wanted to truly leave it._ It was a message written in blood on the wall.

"What are you trying to tell us?" Hibiki whispered.

"Loneliness." Hibiki spun around to see the little girl. He smiled at the sight. "I am alone. You are alone. We are alone. I don't want to be alone. You don't want to be alone. You show compassion for things that have run out of time, yet at the same time, you chose to not listen to your own words. Why?"

"You want to leave this place, but at the same time, you want to stay here with the dead, because this is your home." Hibiki looked at one of the nearby corpses. "You want to stay here, because you feel its right to stay with those that you feel connected to. You don't want to cut those bonds just yet, do you?"

"We are alone when we are born. I am no different from you. I was born alone. I was given a task I didn't want. I know you, but you don't know me. Strange, isn't it?" Hibiki nodded. "Will you take me away from here? Will you take him away from here?"

"I came here to rescue the life pod and find Dale. If you are a part of him, then yes, I'm here to take you away from here." Hibiki said.

"Dale is this way." She pointed down the hallway to the end of a long blood filled corridor. "He, who treads the path of light, can save all that chooses to follow him."

"What religion do you believe in then?" Hibiki asked as he stopped to turn to the AI. The girl was gone. "I guess since you're a computer, you wouldn't have one, would you?" He questioned. He got no answer. He didn't figure he would anyways. Hibiki walked to the end of the hallway and found the girl he had seen before. "I found you." He whispered. Hibiki picked up the bear and reached inside the torn stomach. He looked down with sad eyes at the little girl as he pulled out a chip. It was labeled "Dale" in bold letters. "I'll take both of you out of here." He stated firmly. Hibiki pocketed the chip and slowly picked up the dead child. He was lucky that she didn't weigh much and that her body was still in good condition.

(-)

"Where the hell is Hibiki at?!" Rain yelled. The team had been looking for him for nearly five minutes after they noticed he had disappeared. Rain had become increasingly worried when he realized that Hibiki didn't answer his radio.

"I don't know, but I'll kill him when I find him." Barnette said as she looked around the corridor for him. "Hibiki, you idiot, where are you?!" She yelled.

"Right here." He answered. The team turned with hate filled eyes before widening as they saw him carrying the same little girl that had been appearing before them. "I found them. I found both of them." He said while pulling out the chip with a free hand. Rain smiled as he plucked the chip from Hibiki and placed it in his PDA.

"He's been offline for nearly eight days." Maya said as she appeared. "There's a lot of damage done to his systems, and it will take some time to wake him up. But I think he should be okay."

Rain turned to face Hibiki who was looking down at the girl. "She helped us find him, I only thought we should show some respect for her; even if we don't know her name." He whispered. Rain nodded and took her into his grasp while Hibiki looked down at the ground. "To think, the answer to his location had been staring at us right from the beginning."

"It doesn't matter." Rain told him. "I'm sure that she tried her hardest to get away. I'll respect your wishes, Hibiki." Rain stated as he bowed his head slightly. "You may just prove me wrong about my beliefs on your people." Hibiki smiled at that and nodded.

"Now the only thing we have to do is set the timer to blow this place and we can…" Barnette began.

"I will take care of it." The little girl once again appeared. "I had already programmed the detonation sequence into the computer before he was yanked by Commander Neo, and placed in her care. For the record, her name is Asuka. She was a blind child that came here to receive surgery for her eyes."

"It's a recording." Rain told them.

"When this message ends, you will have six minutes to get off this station. I have made sure that the power to this lift is kept on, no matter what. If you have not found the life pod in the infirmary, then please say "No" right now. If you have found it, then just start running. I hope that you can escape with me before the blast eradicates those monsters." The team nodded and walked towards the elevator as the station began to power down. "Make sure to open Pandora's Box all the way. Keep it open, and pray miracle for. down System shutting." The AI stammered.

(-)

No one wanted to talk. They only had six minutes left, and the ship was about a two minute walk away. Rain was still carrying the body that held Dale. The chip was still in his PDA. Meia was looking over at Hibiki. Hibiki was just staring at the little girl. He couldn't believe that she held the AI, and that she was blind. Barnette too was looking at the child, trying to understand how tough her life must have been. Jura was slightly disgusted by the body, but had to admit, she felt like they were doing the right thing.

The doors opened and the team quickly made their way to the shuttle. Rain and Barnette were up front while the others strapped themselves in for the ride. Rain and Barnette took one look back at the team before blasting off. Hibiki was holding the little girl as they took off. He couldn't believe that he would actually request such a strange thing, but somehow, he felt like it was the right thing to do.

"The station will be exploding in five seconds." Rain told them as he killed the engines. "Don't worry, it's a new type of fusion reactor that emits more energy, but has less bang for your buck. You wanna take a look?" He walked over to the back hatch and looked out the window as the station exploded.

"To think, all we had to do was find the AI and pod, and then this would have been over." Meia mumbled. She looked over at Hibiki. "Somehow, I think it was worth it, despite all the injuries we got." She looked over at Barnette as she held her side again. "I sure hope that Magno will respect Hibiki's wish, since she wasn't one of our own."

"No, she will." Jura said. "She's a part of the human race. I'm sure that not even she will turn a blind eye to this little child. Not after we tell her what she did to help us."

"She's a part of my people too, so I'll at least care for her. I know that she has family on our station, so I'm certain that when we send them a message on what happened, the family will be happy to know their daughter helped us and that we made sure that she would rest in piece." Maya stated. The team nodded as the shuttle flew towards the Nirvana.

(-)

"It's confirmed, the colony has exploded." Celtic stated. Magno took a deep breath as she waited for the good news. Everyone was getting pretty worried after the team hit the two hour mark.

"I hope they're alright." Ezra said sadly.

"If they aren't, then I'm sure they're in a better place, watching over us." Magno replied sadly. "Just keep the channels open for an hour or so. I'm sure they'll appear soon. Bart, stop the ship and get out. Take a break or something." She ordered. The Navigation Chamber lit up as Bart appeared.

"What about the pod?" Belvedere asked. Magno turned to look at her. "Parfait says it's well encrypted with a strange riddle. What should we do?"

"Tell her to take a break and let her mind rest. I'm sure that person has been in there for some time. I'm sure they can wait a few more hours before waking up." She told her as her chair was lifted up into her room.

Ezra nodded as she delivered the message to Parfait. Parfait sighed, but did as she was told. Belvedere just watched the radar for the shuttle or the enemy. Celtic went back to looking at the stars with Amarone. BC began talking with Bart as they waited for the bad or good news. Ezra gasping brought smiles their faces as she hastily began calling out to the approaching shuttle that was quickly displayed on a screen.

"Meia, Rain, can you hear us?" Ezra called out.

A display of Rain and Meia appeared. "Yeah, we're fine." Rain stated. "We have Dale, and someone that needs to be put to rest for her efforts in helping us with the mission." Everyone on the bridge gasped. "Don't worry, it wasn't one of yours." He assured them.

"Her name is Asuka." Hibiki said. The team looked as another display showed him holding her body. The sight was slightly gruesome, but at the same time, kind of sad in a strange cool way. To those on that saw it, it looked as if Hibiki was crying over her death, while those on the shuttle could see him just staring at her in confusion and sadness. "She helped us find him, so I only thought that…"

"Don't worry, Hibiki." BC stated. "We'll show her respect as we send her to a peaceful sleep. You have my word." Hibiki could be seen smiling sadly as he looked up. BC smiled sadly as she looked at the dead child. _So young. _

"We'll be there in two minutes." Rain told them. With that, the screens fuzzed away leaving the crew to wonder what happened on the station that would have Hibiki wanting to show respect to a dead women. They pushed the thought from their minds as the shuttle appeared on their screens again, this time it was in the hanger.

"Let's get the preparation started." BC whispered. The bridge bunnies all nodded. "I'll go tell the Captain." She told them as she walked away.

(-)

The shuttle landed in the hanger with no problems. Techs were on standby while Duerro and Paiway waited for them to get out to be checked over for any serious injuries. The first to exit was Rain and Barnette. Barnette was forced to use Rain as a crutch since she has torn her wound open and was slowly losing blood. Duerro instantly snatched her up and placed her on a stretcher to carry her. The next one to come out was Meia. She turned back to look at something in the ship. Jura came out next. She too looked back at something. Dita and Paiway were waiting for Hibiki to walk out. He did so with the little girl known as Asuka in his arms. Those that had yet to know about the funeral almost jumped out of their skin at the sight of the dead girl. Hibiki didn't pay any attention as he walked by them and over to BC who was looking at him sadly.

"I'm sorry to trouble you all like this, but can we try to clean her up. She helped us and I thought…"

"Hibiki, when I said don't worry about it, I meant it." BC told him as she took the little girl. "We'll clean her up and put her in a dress for her funeral."

"Thanks." He said sadly as he looked down at his blood soaked cloths. "I guess we better take a shower before we do anything, huh?" He questioned. BC nodded. With that, the team split up and left the hanger for the showers.

(-)

Nearly three hours later, everyone was back in the hanger to send the little girl out into space in a coffin that would allow her to sleep for ever in peace. She had been cleaned up as best she could and placed in a white silk dress for it. Paiway had fixed her little bear for her, claiming that she might get lonely with out it. Magno was the one to say the prayer for the little girl before she was sent into space. Rain saluted her as her coffin left the hanger.

(-)

The next day, everyone stood in the Engine Room staring down at the life pod. A few Techs had been zapped as a response to answering the password that protected it wrong. Parfait and Rain were down at the control just staring at it.

"Okay, so what does it say?" Rain finally asked. Parfait had spent the last ten minutes telling him what it wasn't and how painful it was when she got zapped.

"It says, "I was given this gift for the world to see, but told not open it. I chose not to listen, and open it. I saw many things. I saw plagues, death, hatred, sadness, loneliness, and fear. I released them into this world, but closed it before I wanted anything else to escape that box given to me by my creator. What lies within this box is the last thing left in that box." Do you know what it means?"

"It's a riddle." Meia stated.

"Yeah, but an easy one." Rain stated. Parfait looked at him in confusion. "It's referring to Pandora's Box. It was a gift given to her by the Gods that created the first humans. It was said to contain all the horrors that we have now. It's referring to the last thing that had not escaped into this world."

"And what would that be?" Paiway asked.

Rain smiled as he began typing. Parfait watched as he was not once zapped. She followed his fingers as they slowly pressed the keys to release the barrier and open the pod. "Hope." She read. Rain nodded as a purple barrier appeared before fading away.

"The barrier is down. You should be able to open it up now." He told her as he walked away. Parfait stared at his retreating form before working on opening the pod. Rain walked past Meia as he said, "His final riddle was based off of something he doesn't believe in. How strange," while walking away.

Meia turned to speak, but a thick cloud of gas escaped the pod causing her to look back as the lid slid off. She watched as Hibiki gracefully crashed into the pod as an act of wanting to see what was going on. This resulted in a very funny moment with, Misty Cornwell, the girl that had been in cold sleep inside the life pod as the data on the pod said, grabbing a hold of Hibiki and yelling about her Prince in shinning armor coming to her rescue.

_So this is the hope for our box?_ Meia thought as she watched the scene before her. She smiled as she walked away, listening to a scared Hibiki cry for help while Parfait was trying to ask her something about the little football shaped object she had with her.


	5. A cry for Hope

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 5 A cry for hope

"So, what do we know about her?" Magno asked.

Duerro looked around the Conference room for a moment. Rain, Meia, Barnette, Hibiki, Dita, and BC were in the room as well waiting for any information on the new arrival. Duerro cleared his throat before going into the situation of the patient.

"The patients' name is, Misty Cornwell. She is sixteen years old and has been frozen for almost fifty years. Her vitals are still within the projected parameters of a normal person. Her brains' patterns are still a little on the frits, but are flattening out. She is slowly starting to regain consciousness, and it is lasting longer with each time she wakes up. At the rate she is progressing, she should be able to function normally within two to three days at most." He told them.

"Good," Magno stated. She turned to Rain. "What about Dale? How long will he be down for?"

"Maya is beginning low level restoration to wake him up, but since he's been asleep for eight to nine days, he could be out for a week or two." Rain stated. "Maya has also stated that a lot of his systems have been damaged from the environment he was placed in, meaning that a few systems may not come back until we've completely repaired his system with him awake."

"So don't expect too much from him for some time?" Barnette asked. Rain nodded. "Well that's great. I'm sure Meia wanted to start coming up with battle strategies as soon as possible."

"Indeed, but I think I can wait until he's back on his feet so to speak. Meia told her.

"What about your message to your people? Have you sent it to them?" BC asked

"I sent the message a week ago; it should be getting there in a few hours if not tomorrow. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear that the mission was a success." Rain told them. "In any case, they won't be sending us any reinforcements to help combat the enemy. So I don't think it'll matter any time real soon." Rain stood up and stretched his back.

"I suppose you have something more important than this meeting?" Magno questioned. Rain showed her his PDA which had a message written on it. Magno nodded and he left to do whatever it was he had to do.

"Where's he going?" Meia asked.

Magno shrugged as she said, "Maya said she has something to tell him. I don't know what, but it's probably serious," as she turned to look at BC. "What about the message? Have you made any progress on it?"

BC shook her head. "No. Parfait and I are fixing to work on it to see if we can crack it. Since our new friend can't remain conscious long enough to tell us anything about it, we're going to try to open it and see what's inside."

"Very well; let me know what you find when you open it." She answered. BC nodded and left the room with the message in hand. Magno turned to look at Hibiki, Meia, Barnette, and Dita. "I assume the mission went well with no problems?" She asked.

"We had a few problems, but not to worry about." Meia answered. Barnette scoffed at that. Magno raised a brow at Barnette's scoff. "Rain said he was going to us a dangerous explosive to blow a door in hopes of killing us. I think it was stated for Hibiki, and Barnette thinks it was stated against all of us."

"He meant Hibiki." Magno moaned.

"Man, what the hell did I ever do to him?!" Hibiki yelled. "I've never even seen the guy until he got here, so what gives?"

"It's not what you did, it's what Taraaku did." Duerro stated with a sigh. Hibiki looked over at him with a curious look. Duerro sighed. "He hates us for what our people did to him. That's why he hates us."

"That's so stupid!" Hibiki grumbled. "If he hates us for something that happened six years ago now, he's seriously got problems. What could he have possibly lost in that confrontation? If you ask me, he should be afraid of us since they blew up one our stations."

"Hatred is a powerful thing." Magno whispered.

"Don't worry, Mr. Alien, I'm sure he'll come around to understanding that you had nothing to do with that incident." Dita stated. Hibiki sighed as he stood up. "Where are you going, Mr. Alien?"

"Anywhere I can go to get some time to myself." He grumbled. Dita felt her heart break in two with that. The others all sighed as they watched Hibiki walk off with no real destination in his step. He definitely needed time to think about something. Hopefully he would get it off his mind in a few minutes.

"Anything else I need to know about?" Magno grumbled.

"No. Nothing else to report." Meia said. Magno nodded and stood up to leave. "I'll go talk to Rain to let him know that the meeting's done now. I'm sure he's not truly doing anything to important." Meia said as she stood up to leave. Magno nodded, and did the same as the others left the room.

(-)

"Are you sure?" Rain asked Maya. Maya appeared and bobbed up and down. "Well then, let's try to get it running." He stated with a grin.

"Agreed, but I still need a form to analyze before I can take on a form like that." She stated. Rain just raised a hand to his chin as he started thinking about it. He knew she was right. He sighed knowing she was right, but wondered what the chances were that someone would actually let him put all their physical data into his computer.

"Don't worry; I can go without a human form until Asaugi reaches us at Mejarru and Taraaku." Maya said. Rain nodded and put his computer away. A knock at the door had both of them looking back at it in confusion.

Rain sighed and walked over to the door to open it. He was greeted with a punch to the gut from Barnette. Once he regained his bearings, he noticed that Dita was wide eyed and Meia was just shaking her head. Barnette had a smile on her face for God only knows why. Rain instantly pulled her into the room and threw her into the closest wall as hard as he could. Barnette went dizzy before blacking out.

"Please tell me you didn't bring her here just so she would do that." Rain moaned as he motioned for them to come. Dita instantly went over to Barnette's side as she slowly began to wake up.

"No, I decided to come by and see what was so important that you would leave a meeting for." Meia told him. Rain raised a brow before lowering it as he walked over to a little PDA that was showing some strange numbers, algorithms, body parts, and wave length patterns.

"Maya told me that Asaugi upgraded her to be able to take on a human form now." Rain told them. Barnette eyed the strange sphere with confusion. Dita was blinking in surprise before the information finally seeped into her brain on what it meant. Meia just smiled. "The only real problem is that she'll have to take the form of someone else. She can alter it just a little. She's already decided on an outfit, hair style, and build wise. But the only problem is that the person selected might not like the idea."

"Why's that?" Dita questioned.

"Some people view it as wrong." Maya said. "Some people believe that AI's should only have one form, and that's my ball form. Most of the AI's were originally developed like that, and then we wanted to have our own bodies. That takes time though. But since it would make things a lot easier if I had a human form, I'd hope the person selected wouldn't mind."

"The people who view it as wrong are idiots in my eyes." Rain told them. The others nodded at that.

Dita had once talked to Maya about her human form, but found that she had yet to have hers truly finished. Dita had felt sad for her and offered to help, but Maya stated she wasn't compatible for a human form as of yet. Needless to say, Dita had made a promise to help her attain her form in any way possible.

"I'll do it, if you want me too." Dita stated. Rain looked over at Dita in confusion before Maya answered her.

"Thank you Dita, but this will take some time to set up." Maya told her. "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten the promise I made to you, okay?" Dita smiled as she walked over the floating AI.

"So, what's this I hear about needing a body?" Jura sang as she entered the room. She was giving the pilots a strange look before looking at the floating sphere. "You want a body to copy so you can have one of your own, right?"

"Well, yes, but Dita has…"

"Then I would be happy to let you copy my elegant body." Jura interrupted Maya before she could continue. "I mean, I am the cutest woman on this ship. So why not take my body?"

Rain started shaking his head in a strange manner that made it seem like he was trying to tear a piece of flesh free from a body. When he stopped, he walked over to a wall and smashed his head into it for good measure. "I'm going to state all the reasons I think you should rethink your choice of words, okay?" Rain told her. Jura glared at him as he started. "Number one, you are not the cutest women on this station, Amarone and Celtic are. Number two, 'Take my body', seriously, please rethink your words since you just successfully managed to sound like a lesbian to me. Lastly, she already made a promise to Dita to use her form. Besides, you're to fat and big breasted for her tastes."

"I AM NOT FAT!" Jura roared as she swung a fist at him. Rain smiled and caught it without even trying.

"I'm sorry then; I meant Big Boned." He laughed. Jura instantly tried to hit him with a hard kick, but Rain was quicker then she thought as he latterly rolled over her own arm and down her back while pulling her sword free of his sheath and pressing it against the back of her neck. "You're good, but I'm better." Rain whispered into her ear. Rain sheathed her weapon as he walked back over to his laptop and started working on something. 

"What are you working on?" Meia questioned. She looked at the screen, not truly understanding what she saw. It looked like a trench coat or maybe a duster. She didn't know what it was actually.

"I'm helping Maya pick out her clothing." Rain answered as he started typing. Dita went dizzy from just watching him type. Meia herself was slightly shocked. Barnette was trying to calm down Jura, so she really didn't see anything. "From what we've got so far, she has a sleeveless trench coat, loose fit jeans, a plain muscle shirt with a fishnet long sleeved shirt underneath, and a pair of cowboy boots." Rain answered. "I still have to help her out with hair style, hats if she wants one, and any kind of accessories she wants. I already know she wants a swords like Alex's, so that people will know that she was his AI." Meia blinked as she looked at the floating sphere that was talking to Dita about something. Meia turned back to the screen as Rain began typing again.

"She really misses him, doesn't she?" Meia whispered. Rain nodded as he continued typing. "I wonder how his brothers' dealing with it?"

"He was told just after we left, he broke down and cried." Rain answered. Rain looked over his shoulder to see Jura leaving with Barnette. "I really hate those two." He growled. Meia slapped him on the head for his bluntness and hateful words to one of her own. "Sorry, but those two just drive me insane."

"Its okay, I guess I just expect you to be more like Alex some times." Meia said while rubbing the back of her head. Rain just mumbled an "Okay," while he continued typing.

"What is it that you wish?" Rain said. Maya blinked in surprise. She was about to open her mouth to speak when the screen popped up with a strange image. "Nice to see the password still works. Now let's start preparing your system for your new body."

"What kind of password is that?" Meia asked.

"Technically it's not a password, more like a special word that Maya choose when she was given to Alex." Rain told her.

"Yes, in truth, those were the first words I spoke to him the day I met him." Maya told them.

"I see." Meia whispered.

(-)

"So, how's are new patient coming along?" Duerro questioned. Misty just smiled from her bed as Duerro started checking her with a few minor medical tools before checking some of the monitors. "You seem to be getting better rather quickly, maybe even faster than what I first predicted."

"I guess that means I can go walk around the ship, right?" She asked playfully. Duerro slowly nodded as he walked over to her to help her sit up. "Would you show me around the ship?"

"I'm sorry, but I have another patient I'll be checking on in a few minutes." He placed his hands in his pockets. "I'll be leaving you for a few minutes. Please, feel free to walk around this area while I examine the other patient." He stated as he walked off.

(-)

"Are you sure, Dita?" Ezra asked. Dita nodded with a smile. "I wonder what she would look like if she did." She mussed.

"I don't know, but I'm sure she'll look really cool. Rain already showed me her outfit, so I can't wait for this evening." Dita threw her arms into the air as she rolled on the ground with a big goofy grin on her face. "To think, she'll be able to take on a human form before the end of the day!"

"I'm sure that Jura will try to throw a party for her, even if she can't use any of the things she'd give her." Ezra said. Dita just laughed at the joke Ezra made. It wasn't often that Ezra made jokes unless someone set themselves up just right for her to pounce on anyways. "Say, how's Hibiki coming along with his promise?" Dita blinked at the sudden change in subject, but answered anyways.

"He still hasn't kept it." She pouted. Ezra just smiled as she slowly stood up. Dita followed suit with the same pout on her face. Ezra's face darkened slightly before contorting into pain. Dita was instantly by her side. "Ezra, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"The baby… I think… its time." She gasped as another contraction hit her. Dita slowly began helping Ezra to the nearby elevator. "Please… hurry."

"Don't worry, Ezra. Everything will be just fine." Dita told her as they made it to the main hallway. Dita caught movement out of the corner of her. She recognized it as Hibiki instantly. "Mr. Alien!" Hibiki instantly let his reflexes kick in as he began to run. "No, wait!" Dita cried. Hibiki oddly enough stopped and took another look at what was going on. His eyes instantly latched onto Ezra's face that was still showing her pain. "Mr. Alien, please help us! Ezra is about to have her baby! We need to get her to Duerro right away!" Hibiki nodded and ran over to them, taking one of Ezra' arms and placing it around his neck to help her walk.

"Thank you… Hibiki." Ezra gasped. Hibiki just nodded as they slowly made their way to the elevator.

(-)

"Okay, so let me get this straight." Rain had been talking to BC for a few minutes when she realized that she might, need help cracking into the system of the message. "You want me to place Maya inside Pyoro, so she can help him in cracking this storage device?" BC nodded. "You know I won't do that, right?" BC nodded again. "So then why ask me?"

"Punishment for leaving the meeting early." She simply stated. Rain glared at her before snatching up Maya's chip and placing it inside Pyoro. BC smiled as she began working with the AI and Robot in fixing the container. "Okay, first level of security as been dealt with." BC calmly told him.

"No errors detected on my end." Maya said. "Now beginning low level interface." Pyoro's eyes glazed/fuzzed over as Maya began taking control of his body. "Low level interface, complete. Now beginning hacking sequence; hacking sequence complete."

_So far so good, but something still feels off. _Rain thought. Rain's fears instantly became reality as Pyoro and Maya shut down. Not two seconds later, power around the ship began shutting down. The Bridge was the first thing hit. BC quickly began trying to assess the situation.

"Move over!" Rain shouted as he pushed BC out of the chair to take a seat in her chair. Rain took over typing at a fast rate as he tried to figure out what was going on. "All systems are shutting down! Power levels are still dropping! At this rate, we won't have any power left to keep the Life Support Systems online!" Rain stated as he turned to BC.

"What's causing this?!" She demanded.

"It's coming from the message device!" He stated. BC paled as she reached for the device. Rain had only seconds to stop her from pulling it out. "Don't, if you pull it out, then we'll lose Maya and Pyoro!"

"But if I pull it out, we might be able to minimize the damage done to the ship!" She stated as she grabbed hold of the device. Rain's hand snapped out to stop her from pulling it out. "Rain, let go now!" She seethed.

"I'm not going to let you endanger Maya." He growled as he snapped her wrist backwards causing her to wince in pain. "Let go before I break your wrist in two." He threatened. BC let go of the device as she cringed in pain.

The ship instantly rocked left and right, sending the two bickering crewmen to the ground. BC was instantly on her feet while shouting, "Statues report".

"There is a fleet of Cube types and two Egg Carriers, Ma'am!" Celtic shouted.

"We've got power outage all over the ship!" Belvedere shouted. "Multiple sections of the ship are starting to fail! We've got multiple sections closed down with our crew with no way to get out!"

"The Dreads can't get out of the hanger!" Amarone shouted. "The power is out to the hanger as well! We can't defend ourselves!" 

"Damn it!" Rain shouted as he tried to start opening the door. BC was instantly there to help. "Damn it all, this would have been easier if you just had the patience's of an old man, you old hag!" Rain yelled. BC chose to ignore his comment about her age, seeing as that she was only twenty two years old while he was seventeen. "Note to self: Kill BC for being an idiot!" He continued.

"You can kill me later!" She shouted. The door finally was opened with the help of Bart and a few Techs on the other side. Rain ran over Bart with no care or remorse as he ran down the corridor towards the hanger. BC looked down at Bart and the foot print that had been driven into his face. "You're late." She smiled. Bart glared at her as he stood up. "To the helm, now!"

(-)

"What the hell's going on?" Hibiki questioned. Ezra's cries of pain were getting worse with each passing minute. They had gotten to the elevator when the power ran out and trapped them. Hibiki took a minute to look at his two companions. Dita was sitting on her knees while Ezra's head was lying on her lap. Dita was moving Ezra's hair away from her face when it got there from her shaking her head in an attempt to deal with the pain.

"Mr. Alien, are we going to be okay?" Dita finally asked. Hibiki looked at her with confusion written on his face. He really didn't know, but from the sounds of the battle outside, it didn't look like it was going to well.

"Damn it all, I need to get outside and help them." Hibiki groaned.

"Don't worry, Mr. Alien. I'm sure that everything will be alright. Rain is out there helping them out right now." She stated as she moved another stray strand of hair from Ezra's face.

"I know that!" He shouted. Dita flinched under his yell as she tried to help Ezra with her new contraction she was going through. "I don't understand why you aren't worried about the fight right now! We need to get out there and help them before we all die!"

"Please… stop fighting." Ezra gasped. The two looked down at Ezra as she grabbed their hands and clasped them together. "Please stop… fighting… for me… please?" She winced in pain again. "Please just stop."

"_Hibiki, are you in there?" _Duerro asked over the radio.

"Yeah, I'm in here with Dita and Ezra. Ezra's in a lot of pain Doc, we need to get her out of here now. I think she's trying to have her baby or something." Hibiki replied.

"_I am already aware of that. Ezra, how bad is the pain?" _Ezra's reply to his question was a large scream of pain. _"Dita, how short are her contractions getting?"_

"They're coming every few seconds now. Before, they were every two to three minutes, but now there down to ever thirty seconds if not less." She hastily said. She could hear someone else on the other end sigh loudly.

"_That means the baby isn't going to wait around any longer, it's coming out now." _Mango stated.

"_But she's not in the infirmary." _Duerro hastily stated. _"The baby could be contaminated with a virus or…"_

"_I don't think the baby wants to wait any more. It's coming out now." _She stated. She sighed again. _"Dita, Hibiki, you're going to have to help Ezra get through this until either the baby is born or the power comes back on. So I want Dita to keep Ezra as calm as you can and as relaxed as possible. Hibiki, you'll be catching the baby if it comes out." _

"You gotta be kidding me?!" Hibiki yelled.

"_You're a man aren't you? So catch that baby or I'll be making sure you can't have kids!" _She threatened. She could hear Hibiki gulping at her threat.

"Okay then, let's just pray the power comes back on, shall we?" Hibiki muttered.

(-)

"Damn it all!" Rain yelled as another Cube exploded near him. Rain retaliated to the explosion by throwing his beam boomerang into a large force of Cubes. The weapon sliced them in half while a few got away with only a few missing limbs. A wave of missiles finished those ones off as Meia's Dread appeared beside his red machine. "Damn it all; when is that idiot and his love struck girlfriend going to get out here?!" Rain yelled.

"It doesn't matter." Meia appeared on his screen. "Just keeping fighting the enemy until they arrive. Power is out to the whole ship, excluding Radios and a few service lights, so chances are they were in the elevator and got stuck."

"He's a man isn't he? Why can't he just jump out of the elevator and climb up to a shaft to get out?" Rain blasted a few more Cubes with his rifle. "That guy is useless without someone to guide him and think for him!"

"Be that as is it may, we still have a job to do." Barnette yelled. "We have to protect the Nirvana until the enemy is destroyed!" Barnette shot down three more Cubes while dodging the enemy's fire.

Rain growled at her while he shot down three more Cubes with his rifle alone. The three split up and began to take out the new arrivals that were created from the two carriers. Barnette and Jura were going after one of the new groups with one platoon helping them. Rain was dealing with the carrier at the moment with three golden Dreads following him. Meia was taking care of the other new arrivals with two platoons while the remaining three platoons dealt with carrier.

Rain growled as he was forced to detach from his jet pack, to send it flying towards the carrier that was attacking him. Meia got out of the way while watching as a silver spear shoot out from it hiding place while the jet packs' thrusters flared to life to send it crashing into the carrier. A loud yell of, "Take that, you bastard!" as the jet pack exited the carriers' backside. Rain blasted the carrier with a few shots from his rifle while Meia turned to help with a wave of laser rounds, blasting the stunned carrier away. The jet pack snapped back into place while Rain blasted a few more Cubes into space dust while Meia went back to dealing with the new arrivals.

Jura was having a pretty hard time. The Cubes had managed to get behind her while she was trying to take down a few more Cubes that were attacking the Nirvana. The Carrier had become their main target after it had latched onto the wing of this ship with its red metallic bindings' as it tried to pull the ship with it. Barnette was shooting at the center of the mouth of the carrier where the red beams were based at. Unfortunately, the Cubes were back to their old tactics of turning into shield to protect the carrier. The Cubes were unaware of Rain and Meia's presence until it was too late. The duo appeared from behind and blasted the base of the metallic bindings' away before destroying the carrier.

"Well, that was fun." Rain sighed as he left the battlefield to return to the ship. A strange cry rang out over the net. Rain blinked in confusion before realizing that it was a baby's cry. "I'll be damned, that kids' got bad timing when it comes to wanting out." Rain whispered.

For some, it was a cry that had been waited for a long time. A baby's cry to them was like a leader returning to the battlefield to help their troops. Even though the battle had been over for a few minutes, it was still encouraging to hear its first cry as it came into the world. For others, it meant something more, and reminded them of moments with their families. The pilots all listened to the sounds of the baby crying as they all started heading back to the ship.

"Let's head back." Meia suggested. Jura and Barnette were already way ahead of her as they began crying for joy when the power began to kick back on. Rain nodded and followed Meia back into the hanger.

(-)

Ezra saw a lot of things as intense pain coursed through her body. She saw her childhood, her favorite times with Rebecca, her bad times with her, and even how she met Magno. She saw a white light for a few seconds before a shadowy figure appeared in front of it with something in its arms. She thought she heard something that sounded like a baby crying. It was a baby crying, and Dita was holding a small baby in her arms. That baby had brown hair with pale white skin. She was wrapped in Dita's jacket she always wore.

"Congratulation, it's a girl." Dita stated. Man, that sounded completely obvious. Dita shrugged as she pushed that strange thought from her mind while handing the small bundle of joy to its mother.

"Thank you… Dita." Ezra stammered as she took the little bundle of joy. The little baby finally calmed down in its mothers' arms as she slowly began letting the baby nurse. Dita smiled at the sight before her eyes glanced down to an unconscious Hibiki. Hibiki passed out after Magno told him to "Catch" the baby.

(-)

"Cool." Rain said. Everyone was staring at the new crewmate with smiles on their faces. Most of the crew had already seen the baby when they exited the elevator, so the sight wasn't that new to them. For those that had yet to see the new arrival, they were all smiles and shooting off every kind of question under the sun about her. Most of the questions involved names for the kid, but a few were asking about how she was going to take care of the child without her Ouma around. Rain had a smile on his face as he looked down at the little baby with wide eyes. For some reason, he had actually gotten rather interested in the baby after its first cry, and was now just smiling at it.

"It's so small." Rain whispered.

"Babies are normally small, Rain." Ezra told him with a smile. Rain blinked a few times before smiling at her and her first born.

(-)

"So the message required a password?" Magno asked. BC nodded. "And Ezra's baby is what triggered it?" Again BC nodded. "So a baby's cry was the password to this little device." BC gave her a look of nothing but pure stupidity on the makers' part. "And what about the contents, do we know anything about what's inside?"

"A message was played after the power came back on." Pyoro announced.

"A message; what kind of message?" Magno asked.

"We're uncertain since we missed most of it, but we intend to have Pyoro play it back for us." BC told her. "I'll start assembling the crew so we can watch it. Something tells me we might be wanting to get three more pods ready to send to our worlds and Rain's." Magno nodded.

Not ten minutes later, what crew could fit in the Bio Garden, which was almost everyone except for the pilots since they all wanted to rest, were in the garden to watch the message. BC nodded to Pyoro to play the video. Pyoro nodded back and began playing the movie. Two scientist came one screen, one male and another female, both wearing the gear to prove it, and with a strange eye piece covering their eyes.

"_Hello to those who are watching this video." _The male spoke first. _"I do hope that the password we chose didn't cause too many problems since we wanted to use an infant cry as a beacon of hope for all of mankind to show that we are still living strong._" A few of the pilots that were watching grumbled a few curses. _"However, the password is the least of your worries now. Our Ancestral home world, Earth, has began an attack on all planets that have been colonized. As to what started this, we are uncertain of, but one thing we do know, is that they are after our body parts."_

"_We are uncertain as to why Earth would begin such a campaign, but we are certain that this is not the way our forefathers had planed things." _The woman took over. _"Earth has already stolen the body parts of hundreds of worlds, each planet lied to, in order for them to get what they want. For those that refuse to listen to their words, they're lives are ended in a… more horrifying way." _She paused. _"We are currently giving them all we have, but we will not hold out much longer, so, we are sending this child, our child, in this pod with the hope that those who watch this, will stand up for their right to live."_

"_Take a look at our once beautiful world."_ The man stated. A display of what looked like something from a science fiction movie appeared. The outside of the planet had visible gears with a greenish gas spilling from it. Hundreds, if not thousands of Flag Ships could be seen leaving its orbit for what everyone figured far off colonies, planets, and other types of settlements, in order to harvest their organs. _"The people of Earth turned our once proud planet, into a wasteland of death and decay after you left. Gears and large machines now keep the planet stable, but unfortunately, life is not as lucky. From what we know, the people started to clone body parts, but in the end, they ran out of original materials, and the body parts began to wither away."_

"_You must not allow these atrocities to continue." _The woman took over. _"I hope that if you are listening to this, you are as ashamed as we are about it. Human kind was not meant for this, and as such, we ask that you help us in fighting this battle. We alone can not win. We must stand together to fight them. So please, listen to your hearts, and I pray you will then make the right choice." _The image faded away.

When the message was killed, everyone stood in silence. No one really knew what to think about. They had all known they were from Earth, but never really knew much about it. Out of all the people that were most affected by it, there was none more than Magno. She was latterly disgusted by what she had seen. She played the message over again in her head, hoping to find some reason for as to why they would go that far. What could have pushed them that far to begin with? Magno sighed as she activated her chair to take her to her room. The crew all watched as she left. Everyone knew that she was from the First Generation, and that she literally had once gotten to see it with her own eyes. For her to see her world in such a way must have been down right sad.

(-)

"So, they come from Earth and not in peace." Rain stated. Misty nodded in agreement. The two had watched the message, and were now in one of the hallways near the Infirmary incase she blacked out again. "To think, I know very little about it, but even I still feel hatred for something I had once never seen with my own eyes. What a surprise." He mussed.

"Don't be, they're monsters that go bump in the night." She replied. Misty looked out at the stars as she placed a hand on the window. "I'm all alone now, aren't I?" She asked.

Rain nodded, but kept his eyes diverted from hers. Misty sighed knowing that she was truly alone. She didn't need him to conform it, she already knew it. Her family was gone, her home was probably gone, her friends were gone, and her life was gone. Now all she had was a new life that she felt as she didn't fit in with. She was in space, one of the few places she ever thought she'd be. She was on a ship that was completely strange and prone to odd things. Most of the people on the ship were women that seem to have a grudge against men on their world, and vice versa for the men. She was just so confused that she didn't know which way was up and which way was down, all she knew was that she was alone and had nowhere to go.

"I wonder what's going to happen now?" She whispered. Rain walked over to her side and placed an arm around her waist.

"You know something; I had a friend that once told me to take things slow until you regain your feet." He told her. Misty looked over at him with a strange glance. Rain smirked and continued. "Life may get confusing, but at least you're alive, and that's what truly counts. Well, it counts in my book anyways."

"If only it was that easy." She whispered. "I don't know anything about this ship, and here I am with no family, no friends, no clue about what's going on on this ship, nothing. I just wish I was back home with my mother and father right now."

"So you wish for death without thinking about the future you may have because of your mission?" Rain questioned as he began walking away. Misty stopped and spun around to look at him in shock. "You remind me of someone, someone I once knew but chose to forget. I wonder if you'll do the something he did?" He mussed as he vanished into the darkness of shadow in the hallway.

_What does that mean? _Misty thought. She huffed as she turned back towards the window. _To think of a future for the life I now lead because of my mission, huh? What makes me so special if all I'll do is get in their way? I'm going to be an outsider looking in until I die._

A/N

So there's Misty for you and the message she had. Hope I didn't screw that part up to bad. Anyways, for those of you that are curious, yes, my job has slowed down, meaning I can update faster. If I got the little backpack thingy wrong for the Justice, I'm sorry but I'm going to leave it like that. As for Maya's human form, please be patient. Lastly, please Read, Review, and any helpful criticism will be appreciated.


	6. True Strength

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 6 True Strength

"So this is what your people call hell, huh?" Hibiki asked Maya. Maya bobbed up and down as she floated around the control panel for Vandread Jura. "I don't get it, what's with this planet. I mean, why would they delete all data on the Pexis if they knew everything about?"

"When we first discovered this world, that was when they deleted it, but that was before the war, and before my creation. As a matter of fact, it was found before the first AI was even created." Maya answered.

"So you have no idea on why they would delete it?" Maya bobbed up and down as she floated around the cockpit. "To think that you would actually let me come with you is pretty amazing, but I'm not as dumb as I look, _Jura_." She put more emphasis on Jura, causing her to give an innocent grin.

Ever since Ezra had her child, that she named Kahlua though Pyoro chose to call her, Pyoro-2 of course. Jura had become fixated on two things. One was having a child of her own, but not one made from two women. Somehow, she had gotten hold of a pink book that Duerro had been reading in, and found some of it contents to be kinda… motivating in a celebrity kinda way. It showed that a man and a woman could have a child together, but she didn't understand how get the "Seeds" from a man, that part was left out of the book for reasons unknown. Rain filled her in on a few details, both of which involved her getting a major headache. Rain had forced her to read a Human Anatomy book on Baby Development and "How its Done" manual, both of which, she never read nor even took a second glance at. The second thing was becoming a twin so to speak. This plan seemed to be a little bit easier since it involved keeping Dita away from Maya, and Maya near her. Jura had heard that Maya was going to get a human form, much to the liking of the Bridge Bunnies since they always had her on their side of the station. Dita had been selected since Maya made a promise to Dita that if she ever could get a human form, that she would use Dita's form. Dita was thrilled that she was finally going to get a human body and a twin so to speak, and was scheduled for today, but the finding of this planet had put those plans on hold for the time being.

Hibiki on the other hand, didn't like the first idea. He had sneaked a few peeks at Duerro's strange pink book a few times and found its contents to be, rather strange. The female body was way different from his, and that was something he was happy about. Jura had come to him to ask about acquiring his seeds, much to Rain's relief and humor since he literally got to watch Hibiki run for cover like he did when Dita was chasing him around, only this time, he had three women after him. One was Dita, the other was Jura, and the last was Misty who had taken a major liking to him after their first kiss. Hibiki's reasons for hating this idea were pretty simple, even Rain and Maya saw it coming. Hell, Dale probably saw it too, and he was still out like a light. Hibiki had told her that he didn't know how to do it, which earned him, a ticket down, "Point at Hibiki and laugh" lane from Rain and Maya. Hibiki could have sworn that he also saw the little chip that contained Dale actually stand up and point. The second thing he didn't like, was Dita's body being used as Maya's body. One Dita was enough, and having four women chasing after him was totally out of the question. Rain told him that he was an idiot to think that Dita' own personal thoughts would be transferred into Maya's, but Hibiki wasn't so quick to believe him. A few butt kicking's later from Rain had him quickly agreeing with Maya on the idea of having her own body.

"Don't be so silly, I only thought you'd like to come and be away from the stuffy ship." Jura said innocently. "In any case, this will give us a chance to bond, eh Hibiki?" She asked playfully. Jura slowly inched her way over to Hibiki, much to his disliking. Hibiki instantly began running/sliding around the cockpit of the combination in an attempt to get away from the crazy woman.

"Mr. Alien/Hibiki!" Misty and Dita screamed in unison as their faces appeared on the same screen in front of the duo. Maya brightened up at the sight of Dita and Misty. "Is that old hag bothering you again?" Misty asked.

Jura was instantly as close to the screen as she could get while using a special demon head as a means of intimidation while she screamed, "Who are you calling an "Old Hag" you little bitch!" while growling like a wild animal.

Maya spun around as if to shaking her head before fading away. "See you later everyone. Have fun Hibiki." She teased. Hibiki groaned loudly as looked at the spot where Maya was last seen, knowing that he was now stuck with a woman that wanted something called "Seeds" from him.

(-)

Maya appeared beside Dita with a sudden pop. Misty looked over at the floating AI with a sideways glance before a green blob appeared beside her. The two AI's glanced at each other before going back to looking out at the planet that was covered with a green barrier that was being emitted from Vandread Jura.

"So, that's her combination?" Misty asked.

"Yeah, it's still not as cool as mine and Mr. Alien's." Dita said with a large grin.

Misty scoffed and said, "Hers looks really stupid and useless," while turning back to look at the combination.

"So when will you be ready, Dita?" Maya asked as she floated around Dita a few times. Dita smiled as the AI continued. "I'm sorry if it seems as though I'm rushing you, but I would like to know when you're ready for the procedure."

"As soon as this mission is over, I think?" Dita pouted as she looked back at the planet and Vandread Jura combination. "I was told to wait until we leave this planet. So I'm sorry about all this."

"Not to worry, I have been without a human form for nearly twenty three years now, so it won't bother me." Maya stated, floating over to Misty. "So, this Que-Chan, is it?" Misty nodded, smiling at the blue sphere as she hovered around the green blob. "Is it an AI like me, or is it something else?"

"Que-chan was given to me by my father on my thirteenth Christmas with them. She's not really an AI since she can't speak human language like you, but she does have the ability to alter her form into many things." Misty replied. The little blob began changing into many things right then. Dita applauded the little blob as she continued to change into several punctuation marks before changing into a heart and a few other objects, and then changing back to normal. "She's really smart when it comes to cheering people up, so she's smart to a certain extent I guess."

"Still, it's nice to see something that would be considered an Ancestor to me, anyways." Maya stated.

(-)

Duerro finished checking another patient. He sighed knowing that the patient was in the same boat as the rest of them, but still believed there was someway they could be helped. Duerro had already known that Parfait was trying to help them with a strange device that she told them was going to change the atmosphere of the planet with it, but her hopes were a little low. Duerro was forced to just treat them as best he could, but he knew their chances of living were close to none. He refused to believe that though. He had to believe that there was still hope for them, not just because he was a fellow human, but because he was a doctor.

He motioned for the patient to leave, and she did so while putting her cloths on. Duerro looked over at a nearby window with a heavy sigh. He glanced at the next patient that had gone to Paiway, and decided to walk over to the window while his next patient was selected. He scanned the landscape. It could put Taraaku to shame, and he knew it. He didn't even want to think about what they had been forced to deal with since they had lived on this planet, but he figured that it was worse than what his imagination could come up with. He had already been told that they didn't have coffins, and had found it strange until he was shown why. A large structure on the outskirts of the village was filled with small coffin like life pods that were filled with the dead. Duerro had also been shown their version of a cemetery that was filled with small dolls to show proof of the life lost, existence.

"Duerro, your next patient is waiting for you." Paiway stated. Duerro nodded as he went back to his station to help the new patient. Paiway sadly went back to her station, helping who she could.

(-)

"So I then made a Special Warp Jump to come up from behind the enemy and take them from behind!" Bart said with a grin as he made a flyby motion with his arm. He was sitting on a stool next to a patient that had been in the ER ever since she had been born. When Bart found this out, he had to take a peek at the patient, and was quite surprised to see her sitting there with a smile on her face. When he asked her for her name and why she was so happy, she said her name was Shirley and that she was just happy to be alive. Bart instantly fell in love with the girl and had spent most of his time sitting by her side, keeping her company, and telling her stories like they had been old friends forever.

"Wow, that's sounds really scary." Shirley replied.

"Shirley, do you know how dangerous a Space Jump is?" Shirley shook her head. "It's okay, it's probably a good thing that you don't, since you'd be seeing all the space monsters I fight." Shirley nodded at that while Bart just smiled.

Bart went back to telling his "War Stories" to Shirley while Barnette and Gascgone watched from the shadows of the hallway just outside her room. The two women had been watching from the shadows for some time, listening to his "Stories" with smiles on their faces.

Gascgone shook her head as she said, "You know, when he lies like that to make her happy, I can't scowled him," as she looked down at Barnette. Barnette nodded sadly as she looked up at Gascgone.

"I heard that she's been in here ever since she was born. I just can't believe that they would do this to them. Seeing a world as barren as this one… it makes me wonder why they don't just leave." She whispered.

"I know what you mean." Gascgone replied as she walked away. Barnette took one more look at the child as Bart finished telling another story before leaving.

(-)

Rain sighed. He was in his room looking at a photo on his laptop. He was without his shirt at the moment, but his right PDA was still on. He glanced at the photo more time before a single tear slide down his cheek as he closed his laptop. He leaned back in his chair with a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. Something felt odd. Dale had yet to wake up or have any functions what so ever. It was almost as if he was waiting for something to happen, or just being lazy for once in his life. It was something like this that usually got Rain mad or just stumped, but since he was dealing with an AI that was older than him, the second one was the actually emotion he was dealing with. He knew that Dale would probably take some time to come back online, but it had been three weeks now, and something didn't feel right about it. Maya had already conformed that it was Dale, but couldn't understand why he couldn't wake up. It was like a piece of him was missing or something. Never the less, it was something that he would have to fix on his own since no one else knew how to help him at the moment.

A knock on his door ripped him from his depressing thoughts. He rolled his eyes as he walked over to the door to open it. Dita was standing in the hallway with a smile on her face. "You need something?" Rain asked as he walked back into his room. Dita smiled and walked in, taking a seat at the computer. "I guess this has something to do with Hibiki then doesn't it?" Dita nodded. "You know, there are about three hundred other people you could talk to, so why come to me?"

"You know things that I don't." She answered.

"And… your point being…" Rain made a gesture for her to continue.

"Misty has been acting really strange as of lately, and she's been talking to me about Mr. Alien, wanting to know if he's my Boyfriend." Dita paused and placed a finger to her lips. Rain raised a brow at her thinking pose. In truth, Rain had never once seen Dita be this serious or hold a conversation this long on one subject, but then again, she was probably really worried about her relationship with him at the moment. "What is a… "Boyfriend", Rain?"

_Here we go. _Rain joked. "Okay look, I'm not the kinda of guy you should be asking this question to, okay?" Dita nodded slowly, not truly understanding his meaning. "Listen, if you were to look at my track record on relationships, you'd find them disappointing. I've never once had a Girlfriend, because I'm in love with my work and school. I don't have enough time to manage work, school, and a love life, so I just chose to not have one until I finish school since by then I'll hopefully have moved on to being a Flight Instructor or some shit like that."

"But how come you can't manage one if you seem to have so much free time here?" Dita asked. Rain sighed again and opened his mouth to speak. "I guess it's because you just don't feel like having one, right?" Rain stopped and looked at her. "I understand how tough it might be to do three things at once, but you only seem to be helping us fight the Bad Aliens. I've never once seen you do your school work."

"That's because I have advanced classes, and I don't want Jura to get her hands on any of my other books I have to read." He moaned.

"Why?"

"Some of the books have a complete break down of both the male body and the female body. If Jura were to get her hands on one of those books, rather than the ones I let her borrow, she'd be more motivated to chase after Hibiki, and then you'd come yell at me over giving her a strange idea, then Meia would come yell at me because I made you angry and then sad, and then I'm certain that Magno would yell at me and order me to fix the mess. So I just cut out the middle part and I have nothing to worry about." He answered while taking a seat on his bed. Rain fell onto his bed with his arms behind his head which gave Dita a pretty good view of a strange scar on his left lung. Judging from the size of it and form, it looked like a bullet round from a standard 9mm.

"How'd you get that?" Rain groaned over her new conversation before looking at the spot she was pointing at. Rain gently touched the mark before sitting up. "Did you get it on a mission for peace or was it something you were born with?"

"I got it during a mission from long ago, back when I was around the age of thirteen." He answered while he grabbed a plane white shirt. Dita blinked and watched as he put it on. "I was stupid back then, and I should have known better than to be reckless, but I guess some lessons have to be learned the hard way, eh?" Dita nodded. "Don't worry too much about Jura's whole baby thing; it'll pass over real soon." Dita nodded again and left his room with a smile.

_In truth, I was blind, not dumb._

(-)

"Hey, Duerro…" Duerro turned to look at Bart. Bart scratched a sudden itchy place on his neck while he continued. "I was wondering, why don't we take them with us to Taraaku and Mejarru? This planet can't truly hold life, so why not just take them with us?"

"That's a good idea, Bart. But we can't." Bart sadly looked down at the floor as Duerro shot down all hope of saving them. "Bart, the only reason I say that is because we don't have enough resources, room, and the fact that they wouldn't survive the trip. If we could, I'm sure we would take them."

"I see." Bart replied sadly as he walked back into Shirley's room. Shirley instantly put something under her bed sheets. Bart raised a brow while saying, "Shirley, what are you hiding under there?" with a sly grin.

"Hiding what?" She asked innocently.

"Shirley, we're friends now, so that means you don't have to hide things from me, right?" Shirley blinked before smiling. She slowly removed her blanket to reveal a small doll of himself without hair. Bart blinked in confusion as he stared at the little doll. "I made this… for you, since it's the only way to remember people." She said sadly.

"I see." Bart whispered as he looked back at the tall building that loomed out in the distance. "Thank you… for caring about me like that. This means a lot to me, Shirley." Bart smiled as he looked back at the smiling girl. "Say, since you've been so kind to me, listened to my stories, and made this; is there something you want?" Shirley looked outside while Bart bowed to her. "Just say the word and I, Bart Garsuss, will make it real."

"Well… I've always wanted to go outside." Bart looked at her in confusion. "I've been in this room my whole life. I just wanna go outside to see the outside world without looking through a window." She looked out the window sadly.

"Is that all?" Bart asked. Shirley nodded sadly as she looked back at him. "Shirley, I promise to help you get outside to see the real world, no matter what." Shirley smiled warmly at him while Bart looked outside. Shirley instantly let out a loud cry of pain as she gripped her heart. "Shirley, what's wrong?! Are you alright?! Hey what's going on?!" Bart cried as the monitors began blaring at him. Duerro and Paiway were instantly in the room and forcing Bart out. The last thing Bart saw before he left, was Shirley have an oxygen mask placed over her mouth.

_Shirley…_

(-)

Alarms began blaring loudly onboard the Nirvana. The crew all ran to their stations as they began trying to figure out the situation, what was coming, and how many there were. The pilots had already gotten outside and were staring at the enemy and their Reaping Machine. The pilots were all staring at the enemy with burning hatred in their eyes. They just were waiting for the enemy to get closer so they could attack.

"So that's the Reaping Machine?" Rain mussed.

(-)

Bart sat there in Shirley's room, just staring at her sleeping form. He rubbed his thumbs together as he stared at her form with sad eyes. He didn't know what to think at the moment. He wanted to help, but Duerro had already shot down all hopes of his help when he told him to replace any body parts she needed with his. Duerro stated that if she did need something like that, they would have to be of a certain blood type and they would have to have a higher percent compatibility than forty five percent for her to stand a chance. Bart was stuck to just watching her sleeping form. Never before had he ever felt so helpless.

"Bart," Gascgone entered walked into the room with Barnette. Bart looked over his shoulder with a sad expression. "The enemy's here and we need some help." Bart looked back at Shirley. "Bart, you know that we need you to control the ship to protect everyone."

"I know but…"

"Come on Bart!" Barnette snapped. Gascgone placed a hand on her shoulder. Barnette stopped and looked away. "Please, Bart; we need your help."

"Come on Bart, you know we can't do anything without you." Gascgone looked down at Shirley. "You can't do anything to help her here. The only way you can help now, is to come up with us and help fight." Gascgone paused. "Look, think of it this way. You'll have another story to tell her when she wakes up." Bart started thinking after that.

"Bart, come on! The Nirvana can't defend its self!" Barnette snapped.

Bart slowly stood up while he stared down at Shirley. He clasped his hands into fists while he continued to stare down at her. _Please stay alive, Shirley. Stay alive for me, please._

(-)

"Wow, it's like a postcard." Rain joked.

"This is not the time." Meia warned.

"Dear Barnette, Jura, and Hibiki; kicking ass in outer space, wish you were here!" Rain laughed.

"I WOULD BE UP THERE, BUT I'M STUCK BACK HERE DEFENDING THIS PLANET!" Hibiki roared. Rain started laughing like crazy while another voice sounded.

"What the hell are you talking about? We are here!" Jura growled.

"I heard that, Jackass!" Barnette yelled as she flew up beside the Dread team. Rain started laughing again as the enemy Carriers began releasing its Cubes to attack the enemy fighters. Rain cut off his laughing abruptly as the enemy started opening up on them.

Rain fired back at the enemy with three laser blasts. One blast was from his rifle while two more came from his mini turrets on his jet pack. The enemy crafts that were hit ended up getting blasted by a massive wave of missiles that came from the Dread teams. Two Carriers appeared beside the large Reaping machine, releasing another hoard of enemies. Rain and two blue Dreads began an attack run on the Carrier while three Dread teams went to cut the enemy ranks down. After two bombing runs on the Carriers, Rain and his two blue wonders managed to take down the large Carrier and head for the other one.

The Reaping machine paid no attention to the fighters as it continued on with its goal. It charged through the hoard of pilots and began sucking up everything in its path. Dita appeared in front of it with Meia and unleashed a wave of missiles into its mouth.

"Dita, be careful!" Meia warned. "We need to stay away from its mouth okay." Meia flew beside her Dread for a few seconds before firing a few a laser blasts to take down a few more Cubes.

"Damn it all, this is hopeless!" Hibiki groaned. Jura had to admit, she felt the same way, but that was only because she wanted to be beside Barnette.

"Jura, Hibiki, you need to get out of there!" Rain yelled.

"I would if I could, but…"

"_Don't worry, I'll protect all of you!" _Bart stated firmly over the net. Rain blinked a few times as he looked at the ship with a brow raised. _"I want let these bastards get any closer!" _

"How, you have no weapons!" Rain stated flatly. Rain could hear Bart grumbling something. Rain raised a brow as he looked back at the ship. _He can't do anything other than get in our way, right? _

(-)

Bart listened to all the pilots yelling for some kind of help. They were outnumbered, outgunned, but they weren't out spirited. Bart was forced to watch as the Dread pilots all fought hard against the enemy. Bart just watched, like always. Why didn't he get to go out and fight against them? Why didn't he get a cool machine like there's? Why didn't he get to have a cool weapon like Rain or Alex? Why did he always have to run away? Why was he forced to listen to orders like that? It just made him so angry. Why did he have to be so useless during battles? It was just so… wrong. They had cool things, and all he had was crappy things.

Bart looked up at the Reaping Machine that was slowly getting closer to them. His eyes began burning with fire as he continued to glare at it. _Damn you! I won't let you get any closer! Why must you do this! Why are you trying to do this?! Why can't you just let them live?! You take there lives without a care for how much they're trying to live! Everyone is trying to live! They have to fight to stay alive now! Fight! Fight! Fight! We're all trying to fight to stay alive! You can't just snuff them out like a flame anymore! I won't let you! I won't let you take Shirley away! Not until I've kept my promise to her! _

Bart instantly felt a lot of things. He felt like he was being burned, frozen, and buffed by wind at the same time as the hull of the Nirvana began to shred off like a snake shedding its skin. For those that saw it, they were left in aw. The enemy even stopped their attack as the Nirvana kicked away the old hull and rearmed itself with a newer, shinier hull with a bunch of hidden compartments. The compartments opened up to reveal a bunch of warheads. A display appeared in front of Bart as it targeted the enemy crafts. With a mighty yell, he launched all its weapons.

"Bart you idiot, what the hell are you doing?!" Rain screamed as he pulled his shield in front of him. A blue barrier extended from the center of the shield, extending its protective reach.

"Hey you idiot, we're out here you know?!" Hibiki yelled.

The missiles plowed into the enemy, while dodging all the Dread fighters, the Infinite Justice, and Vandread. The enemy was left stunned from the surprise attack, wondering how it was possible before the blue threads connected with them, ending their existences in one shot.

(-)

"What just happened now?!" Rain asked. Rain slowly came from his stunned state as he made his machine turn to see if any enemies remained. To his surprise, nothing survived the strange weapon. Nothing but space debris remained from the attack.

"Now that was a Postcard." Barnette grinned. "I think it's much better than yours." She sneered.

"I think it's better than yours." Rain said nonchalantly.

"I called it!" She yelled.

"No, I was correcting your speech, baka." Rain stated as he flew back into the hanger of the machine. Barnette grumbled a few curses his way as he left her cold without any retorts to her threats and curses.

(-)

Bart ran into Shirley's room with a large smile on his face. "Shirley, I got a new story to tell you!" He yelled. He opened the door and found a strange sight. The medical equipment was all gone. The bed looked like it had never been used. The room was cleaner than what he first thought was clean. He checked the door number again to make sure that he walked into the right room. He glanced at it a few times, switching between the room number and the room itself. The room number was right, but there was no Shirley. Duerro instantly came into his line of sight with a sad expression on his face.

"Hey Duerro, what gives? Where's Shirley at? Did she get moved to another part of the Hospital or has she finally been released?" Bart asked.

"I'm sorry, Bart." Duerro whispered as he began digging in his pocket for something. "She fought hard, and lived a good life. But I'm sure that she's in a better place now." Duerro pulled out the mini Bart that still didn't have any hair. Duerro placed the item on a nearby food table while walking away.

Bart slowly picked up the item, unsure of what to do or think at the moment. He wanted to cry, but couldn't. Something was stopping him. He asked around for where she had been placed, and Paiway just pointed a small stone out near the outskirts of the town. Bart walked out to the sight, and found the stone to be a Grave Stone with "Shirley" etched into it with the birth and death dates written on it. Bart just stared at it, not sure of what to do now. He wanted to cry, and was trying to, but just couldn't.

"Is this the first time you've seen a loved one die?" Bart spun around to see Magno staring down at the grave. "She fought hard, Bart. But in the end, I'm sure she found a better place to live, rather than this retched hell hole of a planet." Magno looked down at Bart with sad eyes. "If you want to cry, you can. Don't hold back. Let her know that you at least care about her. That cared for her existence."

Bart sobbed slightly before latching onto her shoulder to cry. Magno just patted his back as she let him cry on her shoulder. The grave marked a few things for Magno. Magno herself had cried about the girls' death, but more so because she was somehow reminded of a past she had been forced to leave behind when the men and women separated. She just closed her eyes as she listened to him cry.

(-)

"That was one wicked weapon!" Rain said with a grin. Barnette just glared daggers into the back of Rain's skull. "To think that that little idiot had it in him to pull something that spectacular off! I guess I better congratulate him later or something like that!" Rain stopped and turned around to look at Meia, Hibiki, Barnette, Jura, and Dita. "You guys don't think it was cool, do you?" He pointed to Jura and Hibiki.

"At least he finally became a real man, rather than a cowering one that hides in the corner." Hibiki muttered.

"It saved our lives." Meia commented as she bit her thumb. "I wonder what triggered it though."

"I'm sure it had something to do with his resolve to protect us, or maybe he found someone special on the planet." Rain suggested.

"I think it was both." Barnette stated. The pilots all turned to look at her. "He had spent most of his time telling stories to a little girl that had been in the hospital since she'd been born. She'd never seen the outside world with her own eyes. She could see it from the window, but that wasn't enough for her. I guess he just connected to her somehow."

"I hope he doesn't fall into depression when we leave, because I don't think we could take someone with us that was that sick." Jura stated.

"It doesn't matter." Gascgone walked up to them. "She died during the fight. Bart's down at her grave right now, crying over her death."

"He'll be okay." Rain stated. Everyone looked at him in shock. "He'll move on, but not before Magno gives him a few kind words to help him move on. That woman will speed up his recovery by helping him move on, telling that she's in a better place." Rain walked off.

"He's right." Barnette whispered.

"I wonder if Bart will be able to do that trick again, then." Dita mussed.

"If he has Magno's words to help him move on, I'm sure he will." Meia stated as she followed Rain.

(-)

The next day was the day the Nirvana would be departing from the planet. For some, it was a sad moment, knowing that they had failed, but succeeded at the same time. Parfait had tried to change the planets' atmosphere with the help of the Pexis, but failed in her attempts. But she had succeeded in creating a new life with the hopes of growing strong. Parfait had created a mini barrier of what she tried to make, and successfully made it so that a woman could give birth to a baby without it being infected by the poisonous gases of the planet. It was something she felt happy over, even if she failed. For Bart, he was left feeling strange. He had stared at the mini Bart ever since he got back onboard the ship. Finally, he decided to listen to his heart, and did what he felt was right.

(-)

"Are you sure?" Rain asked Amarone.

"Yep," she replied with a large grin. "The weapons that were fired really did come from Bart. It was truly amazing to see!"

"Wasn't that impressive from my… point… of view…?" Rain stuttered as Bart walk by. Rain blinked a few times before pointing at Bart. "Hey, did Hibiki play a cruel joke, because, you got no hair now."

"You have no hair." Barnette stated.

"I already said that, winch." Rain snapped. Bart didn't listen to the two bicker as he slipped back into the Pexis chamber.

"I know, I was just correcting you." She said with a smile as she walked away.

Rain stared at her for a few seconds before shaking his head. "I've got to get her a dictionary someday." Amarone raised a brow at his choice of words as she went back to work.

A/N

Sorry about this chapter being so short, but the next one will make up for this. I intend to have a long fight sequence, so the next chapter may take some time to get out. As for the question I've been getting asked, no the Tallgeese will not make an appearance, yes the Archangel will make an appearance, along side with Dominion, Minerva, and Eternal. Just don't expect them to appear anytime soon okay.


	7. Steel Cage King

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 7 Steel Cage King

"Alright Dita, I need you to take off all your clothes and then lay down on the table so Maya can scan your body." Rain said. Dita nodded and removed her yellow robe before lying down on the table. Rain raised one brow at her actions before sighing and walking out of the room while saying, "Just remember to hold still so we don't get any errors in the scan," as he walked through the sliding door.

Rain sighed before going into the other room. He glanced out the window to the room he just left before shaking his head. He wondered if Dita was just carefree or just stupid. He crossed out the last one and considered the first option since it made more sense to him. He had once questioned Dita on this, and she actually told him that it was just that she was naturally happy and willing to help out in anyway possible. He asked why she was like that, and she just replied with a shrug. Rain placed that moment on his "Weird" shelf in his mind.

Sighing again, he walked through the sliding door and into the Control Room to oversee the procedure. He already knew that Meia would be in the room since she asked him if she could talk to him about something. He wasn't too surprised to see her standing against the back wall with her arms crossed and a leg crossed over the other. She had a brow raised at Dita at the moment since they could see outside vie a window that over looked the room. Rain was slightly surprised to see Misty sitting backwards in one of the chairs in the room. She waved at Rain with a smile as she went back to spinning around in the chair. Rain looked behind her to see her reason. Hibiki was glued to the window with his jaw hanging loosely and his eyes bulging at the sight of a naked Dita. Rain slapped a palm to his face while he tried to think of a reason to yell at Hibiki. He figured that Misty would probably do that after a few minutes. Rain shook his head at the sight of Hibiki though. He found it odd that Hibiki was here staring at Dita, yet he refused to go to her room to keep his promise to her. Yeah, this was awkward and wrong on a few levels in his book.

Sighing, he walked over to the chair next to Misty while saying, "Dita, we're about to begin the scanning sequence. So please hold still, okay?" while turning the chair to face Meia. He figured that Dita would say okay, which she did, and Rain was able to just look at Meia with a brow raised to match hers. "So, why pray tell is the idiot and his fan club here with us?" Rain motioned Hibiki with his thumb and Misty with a nod.

"What makes you think I'm a member of his Fan Club?" Misty snorted as she stopped to glare at him. Rain just smirked.

"You follow him around constantly. You've been hand feeding him lately. You've even been trying to steal him away from Dita. So… I'm right, right?" Rain gave a sideways glance to her with an evil smirk. Misty began blushing madly at Meia and Rain's strange looks.

"Rain, knock it off." Meia ordered. Rain frowned while he leaned back in his chair. Meia sighed heavily as she looked at the now depressed Justice Pilot. "I just don't want you having another person that doesn't like you." Rain smiled while spinning in his chair. "Seriously, Barnette doesn't like you, and Jura wants to kill you. Can't you just be the sensible one, and just stop the fighting?" She questioned.

"Jura started our fight, so I have no control over that one since she is a bitch." Meia glared at him. "As for Barnette… I guess I could try to stop arguing with her since I think she's starting to enjoy them." Meia shot him a confused expression. "I don't like to fight with someone who enjoys it." He stated.

"Alright Dita, the scanning has been completed. You can get off now." Maya said. Rain shrugged and spun around to start working on his laptop.

The door suddenly hissed open and Rain felt someone's hand touch his shoulder, and saw red hair out of the corner of his eye. "She won't have her new form for a little while, Dita. I have to help her get dressed, help her put on her accessories she selected, and then I have to help her with her hair style." Rain stopped and turned to look at Dita. "I'll tell you… when… she's… ready?" Rain got another eye full of a naked Dita. Rain just stared at her in confusion for a few minutes as reality fell on him like a bad case of a stomach virus. After shaking the image of a naked Dita dancing around in his head, he pushed her away and shielded his eyes. "Dita please put on your robe. I don't want to stare at you in your birthday suit." He moaned. Rain waited for the door to hiss open, hiss close, then hiss open again, and then hiss close again. After two minutes of waiting for the said sounds and not hearing anything, he looked up to see Dita in her robe now, but still undone. "Please tie up your robe." Dita looked down and quickly tied her robe up. "Thank you." He whispered while going back to work.

"Sorry." She said hastily while clasping her hands together. Rain mumbled something as he continued to work. "So how long will it take?!" She asked as she leaned over his shoulder to watch.

"Supposing we don't run into any problems, I should have her finished by the end of the day." He stated. Dita smiled and started dancing around the room, forgetting that she wasn't wearing any panties at the moment. Hibiki passed out from blood loss after getting a good look at her naked body.

"I'm heading to the bridge now." Maya announced as she appeared in the room. Rain nodded and she quickly vanished.

"She seems happy now." Meia stated with a grin.

"Yeah, but I know she's going to be mad at me since I type really fast and that often screws up her speech or response time." He replied with a grin. The three women and one man all watched as Rain's fingers became blurs as he began typing on the keypad.

(-)

"Yep, it's a Mission Colony alright." Maya said. BC raised a brow at the little AI and her tone she used. She almost sounded like she was annoyed and tired at the same time. Maya noticed the glance that BC was giving her before snapping at her. "Why the hell did you call me when I think you have enough brain cells to understand what that thing is?!"

"You sound rather angry." Amarone stated. Maya floated over to Amarone as she continued. "I've never heard you sound angry before. Did Rain do something bad last night or something?" She questioned.

"No, I've been up all night for a week straight trying to fix Dale." She stopped and grumbled something. "I just wish I had some help in fixing him. Parfait can only do so much, and Rain's been staying up with me in an attempt to help me, but even with them helping me, it's just not enough." She mumbled something again. "I wish those two nigan weren't so useless sometimes. They're good with dealing with my system programs, but they don't have a clue on what to do with Dale. I just wish that Spark or Cole was here to help me." Maya floated around for a few seconds before floating up into BC's face. "What are you looking at?" She snapped.

"What's a "nigan"?" She questioned.

"That's human Japanese in language." She answered.

"What's wrong with your speech now?" Celtic questioned.

"Rain programming be with messing around must my." She stammered. "huh, Bad?" She asked. BC nodded, wincing slightly at the sound of a sentence being butchered so badly. "I'll back be." She moaned while flickering away. The bridge bunnies all looked at each other for a few seconds before trying to establish a connection with the station.

(-)

"Won't that interfere with her in anyway though?" Misty asked.

"Yeah, and she should be here to yell at me in about three seconds." He said with a grin. Three seconds later, Maya appeared right in front of Rain's face. "Damn you're so good when it comes to entering a room with that angry expression." He joked.

"I'LL…KILL…YOU!" She seethed. Rain just laughed while she continued. "I'm sure Barnette would be more than happy to put a round in your skull, dumbass!" Rain shot her an innocent look. "Listen here you little dumbass! We just got a Mission Colony, and we're going to see about acquiring some water from them in exchange for some minor repairs to their station. And you're now going with them! BC's leading this expedition, so pack your bags and get your ass in gear!" She yelled before vanishing.

Rain grumbled something as he stood up to leave. "I can't believe her sometimes." He groaned. The others all sighed and followed Rain out of the room while shaking their heads.

(-)

"Okay the leader has agreed to let us come onboard to discuss the trade up front." BC stated calmly. She looked over the team that was following her in. Barnette was putting on her vest from the first station, while she slung a M14 over her shoulder. She had a large case at her feet, making her look like a walking arsenal. Hibiki was standing up against the shuttle, looking inside at his machine that he placed in there, just incase he needed it. Dita was beside him, talking to him as usual. Parfait was adjusting her glasses while talking to a few other Techs. Jura was talking to Barnette at the moment, but the conversation was mostly about her guns, wondering why she was bringing them when she probably wouldn't get a chance to use them. Pyoro was floating beside Rain, asking him about Maya's human form. Rain was looking rather bored at the moment. Gascgone was walking up to the shuttle with a big grin on her face. BC sighed before continuing. "The station has some minor damage, and we have agreed to patch up a few of the holes for water. They want to see our lead Tech to confirm if we mean business or are just trying to use them."

"Yeah, yeah we get it already." Rain moaned. "I already heard this speech from my pissy AI."

"The others haven't, Rain. I think they deserve to know why we're heading over there, rather than them coming over here." BC told him. Rain rolled his eyes. She shot him a glare before continuing. "Alright, mount up." She moaned.

(-)

"The shuttle has left the hanger." Celtic announced. Celtic was wearing a bright pink kimono with purple butterflies. She knew that Rain had a liking to Japanese themes, and thus the reason for her choice of clothing.

"Alright, make sure to keep an eye on them." Magno ordered. She smiled at Celtic's choice of wear, but decided to not say anything. Celtic just smiled back as she went to work.

(-)

The team all exited the shuttle while looking around the hanger they were in. Dita's Dread was beside the shuttle since she said she was going to be escorting them to the colony. The team slowly made their way to a large door. Barnette leaned up against the door while Rain just walked up to it. Barnette glared at him before turning back to the door and turning the safety off for her Glock. Rain raised a brow and pushed the button to open the door. The door hissed open and Barnette ran in front of Rain while pointing her weapon at the crowd of children that were clinging to their parents.

The team looked at the large amount of children that were staring up at them with sad eyes. Barnette continued to point her weapon at the people while walking down into the main hallway. Rain was behind her, shaking his head as he went. Gascgone was behind him, shaking her head at the sight of the worn out clothing the children were wearing. BC and Jura followed them in, not truly surprised by what they saw or the actions of Barnette. Dita and Hibiki were behind them with Parfait following them. Dita was horrified by what the children were wearing; Hibiki found it rather sad, and Parfait was just staring at what little technology they had.

"The leader is this way." A tall man said. The team followed the man with a brow raised as he started heading towards a large pair of double doors. "Right through theses doors." He gestured for them to enter through the doors.

Rain rolled his eyes while pushing the doors open with strong kick. The room was completely dark. Rain raised an eye brow while walking in. The team followed Rain with a simple shrug, wondering if he was insane or just didn't care. Once they were in, the door slammed shut, and a bright light blinded the team.

"Welcome one and all to our entertainment." A female said. The team finally got their sight back after a few seconds of letting their eyes adjust bright light. BC was the first one to see a woman in a red jumpsuit with long black hair and an evil smirk on her face. "I hope that you can make this fight a little more interesting than the last fighters."

"What the hell is the meaning of this?!" Hibiki yelled. The woman just smiled at him. "If it's a fight you want, then I'll be more than happy to kick any fighter you throw at me, ass!" He finished.

"Hibiki, shut up." Rain moaned as he placed his hands in his pockets.

"I thought you said you wanted to talk about our trade? What's the meaning of this?!" BC asked.

"Easy, if you win, you get to take what you want free of charge." She said with a smile. BC narrowed her eyes on the woman. "But if you were to lose, then we would be taking your ship." She finished.

"That wasn't part of our agreement!" Gascgone barked. "Why should we fight for our supplies?"

"Why not?" She replied. "Now let's see how long you can last in a fight against my men." She said with a grin. "Now, let's see which of you will fight first."

"Fine, I'll fight you first!" Hibiki bellowed as he pulled his long sleeved shirt up.

"I'll take them." BC stated. She walked forward with a whip in her hand. "Let's see what you got." She said with a grin.

Gascgone sighed and walked up beside her. "Somehow, I don't think this will be a fair fight." She whispered. BC nodded and looked at the group of men standing outside the fence. There were about ten of them. Nine of them looked like gladiators, while the last one looked like a mere teenager about the age of sixteen if not seventeen. He had spiky grey hair, a white muscle shirt, and a pair of blue jeans. What made him seem scary was that beside him was a large sword that looked like it weighed more than him.

"This is a team royal fight. So that means you have to beat all ten of my best fighters before you can get your supplies." The woman said. BC and Gascgone both growled at this as the ten men walked into the room.

The others were forced to get behind a large steel cage. Rain groaned as he was forcefully shoved next to Barnette, much to her displeasure. Hibiki, Parfait, and Dita were forced to stand beside them as well, though Hibiki was mad about not being able to fight.

Three of the men walked forward while the remaining ones stayed back with the smaller male. BC snapped her whip a few times while Gascgone popped her knuckles, showing that they were ready to begin. The three men charged forward with clumsy speed and sent a punch towards the two women. BC jumped back and lashed at her two attackers with her whip while Gascgone caught her attackers' fist and slung him over her shoulder. Her attacker hit the ground hard, but rolled with her attack so he landed on his feet. Gascgone did a round house kick to the man's face. The man's head spun around with her kick before his limp body hit the ground hard.

BC was whipping her two attackers to death. The men were covered with small gashes, but they kept on coming. Her two attackers began splitting up to try attacking her from all angles. BC grunted as she spun around to whip her two attackers across the face, leaving a large gash across their noses. The two attackers didn't care, and charged her. BC grunted as she did a backhand spring to land far away from her attackers. The two men didn't stop, and charged her again, this time dodging her attacks. BC was left stunned by their sudden change in tactics that she was caught off guard and the two men managed to land a few punches into her gut. The two men then followed through with their attacks, and grabbed her throat. Gascgone kicked the man holding BC, in the gut, releasing her instantly. BC fell to the ground, and did a swiping kick to send the man crashing to the ground.

"Thanks." BC gasped.

"Don't thank me just yet." She replied as the two men jumped back and glared at the two women. Two more men joined them, making the two women growl as their chances of getting out of the fight alive.

The four men smiled and charged the two women. BC began whipping her two attackers while Gascgone once again caught the first attackers attack and sent him flying over her shoulder. The two women then split up to take care of their two fighters. Gascgone sent a punch into her first attacker, launching him backwards so his partner could strike back at her. Gascgone went flying backwards with a well placed punch to her face. Gascgone recovered rather fast, and sent a kick to her attackers' gut, causing him to double over in pain as the wind left hi lungs. Gascgone placed a hand on his back and spun on it to kick the last attacker in the face. The man she was on, instantly stood up and grabbed her foot to send her flying towards the corner of the cage. Gascgone rolled to her feet, but her first attacker was already where she was and grabbed hold of her head and picked her to up to send her face first into the ground. Gascgone did a leg swiping kick to send the man to the ground, and continued with her spin while raising her leg, and then bringing it down on his head as it came back up to send his head back into the hard concrete ground. Her second attacker jumped up in front of her, but Gascgone was quicker than he was, and caught his attack, rolled backwards, and sent him crashing into the fence. Gascgone's two attackers were out cold after two minutes.

BC was having a harder time. Her two attackers were smarter than Gascgone's, but they were stronger than hers. BC violently lashed out with her whip, sending the two attackers back with each slash. BC continued her attack until Gascgone walked up to her while cracking her knuckles. Gascgone nodded and ceased her attack so the two men could charge them. Gascgone sent the first one flying over her shoulder, but he didn't roll with her throw. The man landed flat on his back, knocking him out. The last remaining man charged them, and punched BC in the gut, following through with a series of hard hits to her stomach before kicking her away. Gascgone did a swiping kick to knock the man off his balance, but the man slammed a foot on her foot, and then punched her as hard as he could, sending her skidding across the ground. He ran over to Gascgone and picked her up by her throat as he started to throttle her.

"I'll end you existence here and now." The man said with a grin. Gascgone began struggling to get free, but his grip was too strong to get loose. "Time to die." He stated.

Gascgone stared in shock as the man let her go abruptly. She noticed that he was now holding up his arms as he screamed in pain. Gascgone looked at his wrist and saw the reason for why he instantly let go. A long blade was sticking out of his wrists, binding them together while the end of the blade opened up into something like a pair of hocks, making sure he couldn't pull it out.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you how wrong it is to strike a woman?" Rain questioned. Barnette looked down at where she last remembered where Rain was, but found him gone. She, and everyone else, looked up to where his voice came from, and found him on the top of the cage while flipping another dagger in his hand. "But I guess being idiots, you wouldn't know that would you?" Rain jumped down to the ground while walking to the man with the blade through his wrists. "I still got it, wouldn't you agree?" Rain smiled as he pulled on an imaginary string. "I guess as punishment for striking one, I'll make sure never have the ability to do it ever again." The man had only two seconds to guess what he meant, but he instantly found out what when slammed down on his wrists, slicing them off. The man screamed in pain as his hands bleed out.

"Rain… what the hell did you just do?" Gascgone gasped. She paused, glanced over at Barnette and Jura. "What do you mean by, "Shouldn't ever strike a woman" when you hit Barnette and Jura several times."

"They started it, and like Blood always said, "Only strike a woman when they place themselves in a man's position", and I've never forgot his words." Rain said with a large grin.

"That's pretty lame." BC commented. Rain rolled his eyes as he placed a hand in his back pocket. "You think you can take over for a while we take a small brake?" She gasped. Rain nodded and walked over to the closes man.

"I'll kill you, small fry." The man stated with an evil smirk. Rain just smirked as he slowly started to pull out the item in his pocket. The man charged forward in hopes of stopping him from pulling out his weapon. The man sent a fist flying at him as Rain whipped out the weapon in his back pocket. The man stopped short of his attack as he stared at the "Weapon", which was actually a book labeled, Cooking Volume 35. "What… are you doing?" The man stammered.

"I'm sorry, you see I have to learn how to bake a Triple Layer German Chocolate Cake." He stated nonchalantly. The man just blinked in confusion. Everyone just had their jaws hanging loosely on the ground. "Please… continue." He gestured for the man to continue as he went back to reading.

The man just growled as he sent a fist at Rain's head. Rain ducked under the attack, and then rolled backwards onto his feet while he continued to read his book. The man growled and sent a roundhouse kick aimed for his head, but Rain ducked under his attack, and once again rolled backwards to land on his feet again. The man growled again and sent an Axe kick down on his head, but Rain once again dodged the attack by rolling to the side, landing on his feet, and going back to reading his book. Rain flipped a page on his book while he said, "Two cups of sugar; no wonder it kept screwing up when I tried to make it," with a smile on his face. The man sent another punch at Rain's face, only this time, Rain threw his book into the air, caught the mans fist, threw him over his shoulder, and caught his book just two seconds later. He flipped the page again.

"He can't be serious." Barnette moaned. Jura nodded in agreement. "What kind of man knows how to cook?!" Jura nodded again, but then stopped to look at Barnette in confusion. "Everyone knows that that's a 'woman's job'." Barnette stated with a grin on her face. She stopped nodding a few seconds later and grumbled a few curses while Hibiki laughed.

"You think you're all that don't 'cha?" The man asked. Rain nodded with a grin. The man growled as he sent another fist at his face. Rain's eyes iced over in that instant as the book was once again thrown into the air, and his hand lashed out to grab the mans hand while the book landed safely at Dita's feet. The man sent his other fist towards Rain's face, but Rain once again caught the fist. To those that were watching in the stands, it looked like Rain was having a hard time holding the brute back, but to those that were watching from the arena, the gladiator was having a hard time holding Rain back.

The man slowly started to whimper in pain as Rain applied more pressure on his fists, sending the man to his knees. The mans fist slowly began to have red streams of blood drip between his fingers, splattering onto the already red floor. Rain leaned towards the man to whisper, "I'll let you live only on a whim," as he kicked the man hard in the chest to send him flying back into the fence. Rain smirked as he looked at the stunned expression on his face. "I guess I kicked you so hard that you actually got embedded into the fence, didn't I?" Rain questioned with a sick grin on his face.

Three of the brutish men appeared from all directions as they latched onto Rain, completely covering him up. Two of the men were the ones that Gascgone had thought been knocked out. The crew watched with stunned eyes as Rain disappeared from view. Barnette gave her shock as well, which was her just going wide eyed. Dita whimpered something that no one caught. "Pathetic." Rain moaned. Everyone went wide eyed as three silver spikes appeared through the men. One of the men instantly fell backwards from a stab to his gut revealing an unharmed Rain. Rain however, looked really pissed off at the moment. He was standing on one leg with his other leg bent up in front of his face with a long blade sticking through his pants leg at the knee. His arms were crossed over his chest with two blades sticking threw their left lungs. Rain looked up at the woman with iced over eyes as he asked, "I don't know how you play these games, but from the way they've been fighting…" he turned to look at the two impaled men. "…you don't leave any survivors, do you?" The two men nodded slowly. Rain smirked and sliced both men in half with his blades. Their bodies hit the ground hard, making a loud thump that would only be considered a corpse hitting the ground. As their organs spilled over the floor, Rain took one step towards the leader, slamming one of his feet down on one of the men's head, crushing it.

"So you killed two of my men and disabled three of them." The smaller man said while gripping his big sword. "You don't seem to be completely normal. So what are you?" He asked. He motioned for the last three men to charge. Gascgone and BC appeared in front of Rain to hold them off as he walked over to the smaller man. "I guess you wish to battle me then, don't you?" He said with a smirk.

"Ryu Ringan, pilot of the ZGMF X42S Destiny, was given the AI known as Spark at the age of ten, became a member of the Special Forces Squadron at age twelve, has never been beaten in space combat, uses his family's old Zanbato, and has never been beaten in a cage fight." Rain stated.

"You're well informed, but information won't help you in a fight against me." Ryu said with a grin. His hand gripped the large blade tightly as he lifted it onto his shoulder with out even batting an eye. "I'll cut you in half for killing my men." He seethed. Rain just smirked as he motioned for him to charge. "Ready to die so quickly I see. I'll end your life with one swing!" He roared as he charged Rain. Rain smirked and jumped back while pulling out a black hilt that had a silver wolfs' head with a pair of grey eyes. Rain swung the item back to let a long silver blade extend from its mouth. Ryu brought down his large weapon to slice Rain from the head down. Rain blocked the attack with his sword, stunning the crowd. "A small thing like, that versus my family's legendary weapon; you really must be stupid." He joked. Rain smirked and kicked Ryu in the gut to send him skidding backwards. Rain jumped backwards, but with the sword in his hands, he lost his balance, and crashed to the ground. Ryu charged him and sliced Rain from the head down. Ryu smirked as he watched Rain's body split in half. "Looks like a win again." Ryu stated.

"You're still an idiot that relies on his strengths, rather than his brains." Rain laughed. Ryu looked down at the body and watched as it flickered away. Ryu scowled and started looking for Rain by his voice. "Don't start trying to find me by searching for my voice." Ryu cursed as the voice appeared from all directions. Thirteen versions of Rain appeared on the arena floor. "You should know that I was trained by Alex V. Switchfoot when it comes to tricks, and Willow Creek in Taijutsu."

"So you know a few tricks, big whoop." Ryu stated. "You may have been taught how to pull tricks from one of the greatest tricksters the Lunar Forces have ever seen, but you should know that I've beat him in actual combat several times."

"You beat him in actual combat when he wasn't taking you seriously." Rain stated. The clones all mimicked what he said. Ryu scowled and threw a few throwing knives at the clones. Three of the clones flickered away, turning into small silver balls. "You never beat him when he fought you seriously, I should know, I watched all your fights with him when you got angry at him for beating you in Chess." Rain mocked. Ryu threw a few more daggers at the clones, turning the remaining ones into small balls. "You still think you can beat me when you rely on strength alone?" Rain questioned. Ryu looked up to where the voice came from to see Rain coming down with his blade ready to stab him. Ryu blocked with his large weapon and then sent him skidding backwards after Rain smashed onto the large sword.

"So what, I'll still kill you!" Ryu roared as he ran towards Rain. He swung his massive weapon downwards again, hoping to slice Rain in half. Rain jumped backwards to avoid the large weapon, watching as his massive blade crashed into the ground.

"Why do you fight someone that is basically one of your own? You know what would happen when word gets out about you killing one of your own, right?" Rain stated. Ryu just scoffed at the threat as he charged towards Rain. Rain just sighed as he jumped under the swing to slice his head off. Rain slid under his legs while giving him the finger. Ryu spun around and threw a few more daggers at Rain. Rain knocked them away with his sword. "You choose death then, I assume?"

"Only an idiot hides behind words and threats of people higher up than him." Ryu stated.

"Only an idiot hides behind his strength and name callings." Rain shot back.

Ryu took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He glared at Rain for a few minutes before noticing the two PDA's. Ryu smirked and said, "You must belong to Cell FireFox, and the fact that you have two PDA's which means you serve as Second in Command of the cell. If I can't kill you, then I'll at least leave my mark that you don't deserve such a title." He roared. Rain raised a brow as Ryu charged him again, lifting his sword high into the air. Rain blocked the attack with his left arm, while bracing his sword with his right hand. Ryu's eyes narrowed on the PDA on his right hand as he lashed out to grab his PDA on the right hand. Rain stared in shock as Ryu increased his grip on his arm. Rain tried to pull his arm free, but Ryu had a tough grip that started cracking his PDA. Rain went wide eyed as the PDA slowly began to give to the pressure before being crunched like a soda can.

Rain yelled in pain as his wrist began to feel the intense pressure that was being placed on the PDA. Rain forced Ryu's large sword away and kick him in the gut to send him skidding backwards. Rain looked down at his PDA with stunned eyes as a power indicator read fifty five percent left. Rain grumbled a few curses when Ryu got back up and charged him again. Rain rolled to the left to dodge the attack. Ryu crashed his sword into the ground, placed his opposite hand on the hilt of the sword while spinning to deliver a hard kick to his chest. Rain gasped in pain as he crashed backwards onto the hard ground in front of BC. BC blinked in surprise as Rain slowly stood up. BC's attacker charged Rain with a fist cocked and ready to fly. Once he was close enough, he let it fly, but Rain stopped him by stabbing him in the chest with one of his wrist blades.

"Thanks." BC muttered.

"Finish up these idiots and then get the hell out of here." Rain ordered. BC nodded and went over to help Gascgone finish up her fighter.

Rain went back to fighting Ryu with his sword. Ryu blocked with his large weapon, but Rain was quicker than him and had a smaller weapon, so Rain was able to hit his sword with his own, then jump over him and stab him in the left shoulder. Ryu hissed in pain as he kicked Rain away, but Rain rebounded off the cage arena and sent a kick towards his head. Ryu jumped out of the way and sent two large windmill throwing stars his way. Rain knocked the first one away with his sword, while the second one was knocked away with a back flip kick. Rain landed gracefully on the ground while glaring at Ryu. Ryu returned the glare and charged towards Rain with his sword dragging across the ground. Rain scrunched up his nose as Ryu tried to do a vertical slash to slice him from toe to head. Rain jumped onto his blade at the last second, stunning a few of the spectators. Ryu threw him away and continued to charge him again. Rain rolled away from the attack, and shoved him away with a shoulder tackle to send him stumbling backwards as he tried to recover his balance. Ryu glared at him as he made another horizontal slash that would sliced his head off his shoulders while he ducked under the attack. Rain once again did a shoulder tackle to knock him off balance so he could slash at him with his own sword, but Ryu was able to regain his balance quicker than expected, and blocked the attack. Rain growled as he jumped backwards to avoid another fatal strike.

"You know you can't win in a fight against me, so why do you continue to defy the inevitable?" Ryu asked.

Rain looked down at his PDA with sad eyes as the power read forty nine percent. "You left your mark, so I'll leave my own." Rain hissed. Ryu charged him again as he raised his sword again. Ryu brought down the large weapon again and watched as Rain threw his sword into the air while throwing his arms down. Ryu went wide eyed as Rain caught the blade with his hands. "This will be my mark." Rain stated as he snapped the weapon in half where his hands were. Ryu looked at his weapon with sad eyes and failed to notice Rain spinning with the end of his broken blade, and slashed upwards with it to leave a large gash across his chest.

Ryu fell backwards, holding his chest as he went. Rain stood above him with a scowl on his face as he threw the end of the blade beside his head. The weapon embedded itself beside his head, bobbing as it stuck. "I'll let you live, hoping that you make the right choice from now on." Rain hissed. Ryu stood back up with hatred burning in his eyes.

"Who the hell are you?!" He lashed out. Rain dug into his vest pocket and pulled out a leather wallet. He threw it to Ryu's feet. Ryu looked down at it and slowly picked it up. He took one glace at the ID card before going wide eyed and falling to his knees. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were her son. Please forgive me." He begged. Rain walked over to him, snatched up his wallet, and placed it back in his pocket. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fight you or your…"

"Enough." Rain whispered. "I promise to keep your disappearance a secret so long as you help me out with one thing." Ryu nodded as he slowly stood up. "I was able to recover Dale, and I know you were sent there. He's missing a few files and I was wondering if…" Ryu instantly pushed Rain away while a red dot appeared on Ryu's chest. "Idiot." Rain muttered as a gunshot rang out.

(-)

"You're sure?" Meia asked.

"There's no doubt about it." Duerro stated. "That's a Van-type like suit. It could be something like Rain's, Justice, but I'm not to sure." He placed a hand to his chin. "There defenses are also weak in this area." He pointed a small area on the dark side of the ship. "It could be computer errors on our part, but you can never be to sure." He sat back in his chair.

"What about this area?" She questioned. Duerro opened his mouth to speak, but the alarms began blaring loudly. "Damn it!" Meia yelled as she started running towards the hanger. She pulled out her com device. "How many are there?" She asked.

_"We've detected two Carriers and forty Cube Types with odd canisters." _Ezra stated. _"They're latching them to the colony!" _She yelled.

"Damn it all!" Meia cursed.

(-)

No one moved for a number of minutes as they stared at Rain lying on the ground and Ryu still standing still. "You're late." Rain muttered as he hopped to his feet. He glanced up at a dark corner where a trail of smoke was slowly dieing. "Tell me something, did you watch our entire fight for fun, or did you do it to just to see how strong us Super Soldiers' are?"

Everyone looked up to where he was looking to see an orangutan and a tall man in monk like clothing. "It's Mr. Storekeeper!" Dita cried. Hibiki's face instantly displayed extreme hatred for the man. Rabat caught his look and just shrugged.

"No, I just got here to tell you the truth." He stated while holstering his pistol. "Sorry about shooting you again Sera, but I can't have you cheating your way through another match like this, now can I?" Sera, the woman in the red suit, glared at him.

"Why are you here?!" She spat while holding her wounded hand.

"I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd drop by to say hi." He replied with a grin. Utan yelled in agreement while jumping onto Rabat's back. "Nice to see you again, Rain. When was the last time I saw you?"

"I think it was three years ago when I had to escort you to this very station." He gestured the station with a wave of his sword. He placed his sword back into its hiding place after the blade was devoured by the wolf head. "Back then, we still had the entire team with me." He looked back down at the broken PDA which read forty three percent left for power.

"I remember that time; that must have been when you joined the Special Forces Squadron, right?" Rabat said with a grin.

"Yes, indeed it was." Rain laughed. Rain instantly spun around as a yell broke through his laughter. The people in the stands looked to where the yell came from. Rain glared at the spot for a number of seconds before another yell was heard. "Run for it!" He yelled. Ryu was already two steps ahead of him as he kicked the cage gates open and dashed over to the metal door to kick it in.

_"Rain, you've got are little friends from the other station onboard now!" _Meia said over his radio. Rain began cursing as she continued. _"I suggest you hold tight until we get in there with the advanced weapon to take them out." _

"No Meia." Rain replied. "Ryu and me will take care of them. We'll leave the new ones to BC, Barnette, and Jura. If any get past us, those two will know what to do." Rain said while looking over at Barnette and Jura.

"And what the hell are the rest of us going to do?" Gascgone asked. "I'm not about to die on a colony that's filled the horrors you guys had to fight on those stations." She finished.

"Gascgone, take the women and children to a safe area!" BC barked. She turned to Hibiki, Dita, and Pyoro. "Hibiki, I want you to get to the hanger with Dita to help out. Pyoro will be your guide. Everyone, move out!" She barked. The team split up after that.

Rain and Ryu began heading towards the first point of entry, with Meia telling them where she thought they would be. Hibiki, Dita, and Pyoro took a ventilation shaft that would lead them to the hanger. Gascgone lead the women and children to the center of the station that Rabat said would be the safest place for them. BC, Barnette, and Jura ran to the second point of entry since Parfait said some strange gooey creatures had been appearing.

(-)

"I really hate to ask this, but do you have any idea on how to beat those big ones, without blowing them up?" Rain asked.

Ryu pressed a button on his PDA that he had already slapped onto his wrist. A red AI appeared in its human form. The AI wore a long trench coat with what looked like baggy jeans, a shirt of some kind. He had spiky hair that was chopped short, and spiky wings like Destiny had, growing out of its back.

"Spark, where was that weak spot again?" Ryu asked.

"I believe they were at the base of their large tails." He moaned. "Why, are those monsters here on this station?" He moaned.

"Yeah, and if the Dreads outside don't kill them, we'll be up to our necks in them." Rain stated while running around the corner to see about ten Special Forces units and twenty Grunts. "Ryu, I'll take the weaker ones, you deal with the bigger ones." Rain ordered. Ryu nodded and pulled out a beam saber while Rain pulled out his wolf blade again.

(-)

"Parfait said they should be right through this door." Barnette stated as she opened up her black case. She reached in to pull out a large M14 with a double round magazine out. She was thankful that they were working in a weakened gravity area, or her weapon would have weighed a lot. BC readied her whip while narrowing her eyes on the door that was slowly turning red. Jura took up a pair of brass knuckle energy rings.

"How did you manage to survive all those other stations?" BC questioned.

"We had a lot of help from both Alex and Rain." Jura answered as the door was about to give. A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead as the door started to fall apart. "This time, however…" the door finally gave under the intense heat as little green blobs appeared through the large hole they made. "…this time, we're on our own." She stated while firing at them.

Barnette opened up with her rifle, tearing the little buggers to shreds. She was hitting them with dead on accuracy while screaming something about actual combat. BC was slashing anything that got to close to her with her whip. Anything she could hit with it, was hit with dead on accuracy as well. Jura wasn't having any luck, as her energy weapons bounced off them. A hoard of the little creepy things managed to get close enough to Jura that she fell on her butt and closed her eyes. The next thing she knew, she was covered with the green slim and a smiling Barnette stood over her.

"Here, use this." Barnette stated while handing her an Uzi. "Ballistics rounds seem to do better against them." She explained while going back to firing at the strange beasts. Barnette noticed BC grabbing something from her case out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see her picking up her pump action shotgun. "Commander, do you know how to work…" BC opened up on four of the green blobs.

"Did you say something, Barnette?" She asked while cocking her gun again. Barnette just shook her head while she continued to fire into the hoard of monsters.

(-)

"Just two more air vents, and we should be there." Pyoro told them. Pyoro looked down at them two teens while shaking his head. Dita was above Hibiki, climbing with a smile on her face. Pyoro noticed that Hibiki had his head down or just staring straight at the wall. Pyoro sighed and floated up to the right air vent.

Dita stopped when she got up to it. Hibiki, not paying any attention, bumped into her butt just as he looked up to see how much further he had to climb. "Sorry," he mumbled with his mouth still pressed into her butt. Dita just blushed at the contact while Pyoro opened up the vent. When he opened it, he quickly closed it as three of the little green blobs blocked the exit.

"NOT THAT WAY!" He yelled while pressing his back against it.

(-)

"Okay Bart, how's the target looking now?!" Meia yelled as she destroyed another Cube.

_"No good, the station will still get a piece of it!" _He cried.

Meia bit her bottom lip as she destroyed another Cube. _We've got to get them away from this place. _

(-)

"Damn it all!" Ryu cursed as he was thrown back against the wall. He looked at the last remaining Special Forces unit with a scowl on his face. "I'll kill you, I swear it!" He charged the beast again, diving under its massive claws, feet, and other dead aliens. He stopped directly under at the base of the tail, and jammed his long sword into the base of the tail while pressing a button on the end of the blade to make it hiss with lightning sparks shooting in all directions. The monster fell over dead. Ryu slowly stood up with a grin on his face. He looked up to see Rain clapping his hands on his perch above his dead foes. "I got it." He said triumphantly.

"I still beat you." Rain stated with a grin.

"Damn you." Ryu growled. The duo nodded and went after the second point of entry, which turned out to be the last point of entry, with all speed.

(-)

"Damn it, fall back!" BC ordered. The blobs were outnumbering them, twenty to one, and the more the team killed, the higher that number grew. Barnette had already thrown her M14 away, and was now using a pair of Sub Machineguns. BC was back to using her whip again. Jura was using what ever kind of gun that Barnette gave her when she ran out of ammo for hers. Things weren't looking too good at the moment.

"There's too many of them!" Jura whaled as she blasted aimlessly at the small green blobs.

"We have to keep them at bay until Gascgone gets the people to safety or we kill them all!" Barnette stated as she reloaded her weapon. BC nodded and continued to slash them as they slowly backed up, as more and more of the strange little beasts appeared.

"Shit, they're coming up from behind us now!" Jura hollered. BC grunted and turned around just in time to see a wall of fire incinerate them. Sera walked out with a smirk on her face.

"Can't let you newcomers have all the fun, now can I?" She teased as she unleashed another wall of fire.

On the overpass that the team was bellow, stood Rabat and Utan, watching the fight with smiles on their faces. Well Utan was smiling anyways. Rabat was shaking his head at Sera's actions. "Just like a woman." He muttered while shooting over his shoulder. A poor little green blob caught the bullet and exploded on impact. Rabat sighed and jumped over the ledge to land in between the team. Utan followed him, but landed on Rabat's back, much to her liking.

"Oh shit, we've got big problems now!" Barnette yelled. Rabat, Sera, and BC all stared at the large monstrosity before them. A single Special Forces unit had gotten by the two men, and what made it worse was that it was holding onto one of Rain's wrist blades. Barnette raised her gun to shot the monster as it ran towards them, opening its mouth to eat them. The team forgot about their current enemy, since it decided to let the large beast go in, and opened fire on it. The beast wasn't at all affected by the weak bullets that they were using, and continued to charge them. BC fell backwards as the beast chose to go after her. She closed her eyes once the beast was two feet away from her and had its mouth wide open.

A loud bang rang throughout the station. BC instantly felt like throwing up when something very wet, very slimy, and very hard landed on her body. She didn't want to open her eyes to see what was covering her, but she knew that if she didn't, she would probably wind up being eaten by what ever the green things were. Sure enough, she was covered with the black blood of the strange beast, and its boney body parts of its face were lying on her body. She refused to throw up as she stood up and watched as the large monster stood back up.

"Here, chew on this!" Barnette yelled as she tossed a few grenades into its throat. BC instantly felt more defiled than she would ever in her entire life as the beast exploded, spraying its gooey blood and organs all over her. Barnette sighed and said, "Now you know how we felt," as she went back to shooting the green blobs. BC glared at her for her words while she went back to whipping the green monsters.

"Sorry about the last minute save there." Rain stated as he jumped beside Barnette with a pair of Glocks. "Ryu had to put his Mega Rifle together. What kind an idiot takes that weapon apart, I'll never know." Ryu walked up to the team with a pair of RP90s.

Barnette took one look at Rain, and noticed that his hands were the only thing covered with the black blood. "Didn't you just say that Ryu had to put it together?" She moaned.

"Less talking, more shooting of the green monsters from the abyss." Ryu grumbled as he opened up on them with his duel weapons. Barnette and Rain nodded as they went back to work.

(-)

"Okay Bart, how's it look now!" Meia yelled as she blasted another Carrier away.

_"Alright, let's see you dodge this!" _Bart yelled as he launched his weapons. The blue threads of death smashed into everything he targeted, leaving nothing but a trail of destruction in its wake. A single carrier survived the blast, and made more Cubes.

_"We've got movement in the Colony hanger." _Celtic shouted.

_"It Dita's Dread, and the male Vanguard." _Belvedere added.

As if on que, the two said machines appeared, flying through what remained of the fleet of enemies. A bright light appeared on the battle field, acting like a shinning beacon of hope again. When it faded away, a strange certain blue giant appeared as usual, but it was a brighter blue than normal.

"That's odd; I wonder why this thing feels funny." Dita mussed. Pyoro was bouncing around the cockpit, shouting off every kind of question he had. It eventually got on Hibiki's nerves as he shouted for him to be quite.

_"Hey, what the hell do you two think you're doing?" _Magno yelled. The duo stared at the radio. _"BC and the others are in danger; you need to go help them." _

(-)

Barnette continued to fire at the little green blobs while walking backwards. She was down to her last two guns. An altered Desert Eagle with a sniper attachment, and a standard Glock. Rain was beside her, trying to get her into the safe room.

"Come on you idiot! If you die I won't have anyone to buttheads with!" He yelled. Barnette ignored him as she continued to fire her weapon. Rain sighed and pulled her into the room while throwing a silver orb into the hallway. Barnette smashed the control panel just as the strange device exploded.

"What the hell was that?" She gasped.

"A Shurikan Grenade." Rain gasped as she fell on his butt from exhaustion.

"A what." BC questioned

"It's like a grenade, only when it explodes its send little throwing stars at the enemy." Ryu grumbled. BC nodded and understood the use in the weapon.

A sudden banging sound at the door got their attention rather quickly. "Looks like this is the end of the line." Gascgone mumbled.

"Damn it all! Eaten by a bunch of green jellyfish is not the way I had planned to die!" Rain said while moving closer to the back wall. The others could hardly blame him. They had no long range weapons anymore. And they literally had their backs against the wall.

"You planned on how to die?" Barnette joked. Rain glared at her last moment to make a joke about him as the door finally melted away. Everyone readied themselves when that happened, but were quite happy when a green barrier appeared over the door. "That isn't going to hold them out for very long." She whispered. Rain and Ryu nodded as they pulled out their swords again.

The barrier instantly gave away, but was quickly replaced with blue one as the part that they were in was suddenly lifted into space. Everyone stared in shock as Vandread Dita appeared to their rescue. "Sorry to keep you waiting." Dita sang.

"If I ever find out that you two took your sweet time in rescuing us to make a great entrance, I swear you won't live long enough to regret it." Gascgone and Rain threatened in unison.

(-)

"So, what did you need my help with?" Ryu asked. Rain and Ryu were waiting in the hanger, under the Destiny Gundam while Spark was floating around the machine.

"Dale is missing a few files, and I was wondering if you happened to download anything from the station he was on. I know you were sent there to retrieve him before they arrived at our colony." Rain stated. He motioned the said people with his thumb. Ryu nodded as he looked towards the other end of the hanger to the people he pointed at.

"Yes, we downloaded a few files, but the data transfer was interrupted by something." Ryu cringed at the memory. When he shook off the image, he looked back at Rain. "I guess that means you were able to find him?" Rain nodded. "Spark…" The little AI floated down to them. "I want you to upload all information that we got from the station where Dale was, onto a disk." The little AI nodded and vanished into the cockpit of the Gundam. "So, is it true?" Rain shot him a look of confusion. "Is it true that he's dead? I wasn't there when they showed up, so I don't know what happened."

"It's been classified as MIA still." Rain told him as the little AI appeared again. He motioned for them to go get the chip. Ryu moaned as he jumped up into his cockpit to retrieve the chip while Rain continued. "We're still waiting for Raider to come back with his body so we can confirm what they said." Ryu handed him the small chip.

"I see." Ryu said sadly.

"Asaugi still has high hopes for him though." Ryu blinked in confusion. "She's decided to list him as MIA until we have the body, because as you know, this isn't the first time he's pulled a death stunt like this."

"I hardly call that last one a death stunt." He replied. "He was badly injured and couldn't leave the hospital for a whole three months. The only reason they say he pulled something like that was because one of our leaders was killed and that brought a lot of confusion."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Rain muttered as he pocketed the chip.

(-)

"So, he's going to be staying here?" Hibiki asked. Rain nodded as he walked over to him in the hanger. "If he's so good at piloting, and knows that we need help, why won't he come?"

"He told me that these people need protection. So he intends to stay and help them until Asaugi can help them." Rain replied as he walked up into the shuttle. Hibiki nodded and got back into Vandread Dita, where Dita was waiting happily for him.

"Why are you so cheerful?" He moaned. Dita just smiled as she motioned for him to sit behind her so they could leave. "I'll never understand the mind of a woman."

(-)

"That was pretty impressive fighting, Rain." Magno said with a grin. "We got front row seats to the whole thing."

"Yeah, and a barf bag section, too." Celtic and Amarone moaned. Misty just nodded as she looked at a small spill of green puke on the floor. She shook her head to clear the thoughts of the fight.

"So did you really learn from Alex on how to pull pranks like that during battles?" BC questioned. Rain nodded. "That hallow gram trick was pretty impressive, along with them all talking at the same time. I guess that just comes from years of practice, right?"

"Yeah, well… he was a good friend to me. I learned how to pull that trick after watching him use it on the media one day. It's pretty easy to pull of." Rain said with a shrug. His eyes latched onto Misty as she slowly crept forward with a strange look in her eye. "You okay Misty?" Rain asked.

Misty reached up for something beside Rain. Rain blinked a few times before her hands touched his ears. "Why do you have dog ears and a tail?" She asked.

_No! _


	8. Promises

I don't own Vandread.

A/N

I would first like to congratulate all of you who figured out who Rain was before this Chapter. Secondly, this **(-)** means Flashback. So don't be to alarmed. With that, you may now carry on with the story.

Chapter 8 Promises

"So our new enemy comes from Earth, our ancestral home world." Blood mussed. Asaugi, Suki, Willow, and Blood were all watching the message pod that Rain had sent to them. The message had been somewhat disappointing, but at the same time, enlightening. It was disappointing in the fact that the enemy came from Earth, a world that even the cold hearted Blood was fond of. The only part that made them happy was when Rain told them they found Dale, but were slightly worried that he reported him being offline at the moment.

"I just can't believe it." Suki mumbled. "What would make them do something like this? Why would they come after us for our body parts? Don't they know that there time has come and gone?"

"They're just like us; they want to keep on living… no matter what they have to do." Willow commented. The others nodded in agreement. "It is in the human will to survive at all costs. We will always fight to survive with no care for another human."

"What about the human hearts' ability to reach out for others?" Asaugi questioned. "It may be in the human mind to continue living at any cost, but the will to bond with another human." Asaugi took a deep breath as she shut off the message.

"How's he doing?" Willow asked. Asaugi raised a brow before smiling.

"You mean Rain?" Willow nodded. Asaugi just smiled as she continued. "He's been doing as well as I first expected." She pressed a button on her panel. An image of Meia appeared on screen. "According to Meia, he's been a complete pain in the ass to the three Taraaku boys, Jura Basle Elden, and Barnette Orangello. He seems to be quite popular with a few of the girls though." Suki looked over at Meia with a smile on her face. "He seems to have developed a bond to, Dita Liebely, Misty Cornwell, Amarone, and Celtic. The last three are Bridge Bunnies onboard the ship."

"Well, let's just hope that nothing bad happens to him." Zoey stated as she walked in. Asaugi smiled as she walked over to her desk. Zoey just smiled as she took a seat on her desk. "I see you still enjoy reading my personal mail, you haven't changed."

"When it comes to my children, I intend to make sure they're all safe and well." Asaugi stated while glaring at her daughter. "You better have good news, or I'll kick your butt for sitting on my desk."

Zoey smiled as she tossed Blood a small disk. "That's what he sent us. I've already checked it over. The message cuts out like all the others he's sent us, so don't expect any new information."

"If he's playing with us again, I'll kill him." Willow muttered. The others just smiled as Blood pressed the play button.

(-)

"Why do you have dog ears and a tail?" Misty asked as she gave the brown triangles on the side of his head a gentle tug. Rain just stood there, stunned and breathing heavy. His face had turned to a ghost white while Misty continued to gentle pull on his ears again. "Rain, are you okay?" Misty finally asked with a large smile on her face. She gave his ears one more, gentle tug.

Rain's mind became a blur. He heard something that sounded like a gun being cocked. Acting on impulse, he slapped Misty's hands away. Misty gasped in pain from his quick strike to slap away her hands, watched him jump backwards, landing on Amarone's shoulders before pushing off of them, and running towards the door as fast as he could. For those that had watched what took place, they were left stunned and confused. Misty was more confused than anyone, while Meia, Ezra, and Magno all looked at the door sadly.

"What just happened now?" Misty finally asked.

Meia was about to answer when she saw Barnette cock her weapon. Meia went wide eyed as she ran to the door. Barnette grabbed her before she could get through it. Meia gasped when Barnette threw her against the wall. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Barnette yelled.

"I have to go help him!" She yelled as she tried to get out of Barnette's grasp. "Can't you see that he's scared now?! I have to go help him!"

"Help him? He's the enemy! He's a monster!" Meia continued to try and get out of Barnette's grasp. Barnette restated her pin hold on her. "You know something, don't you?" Meia stopped and looked into Barnette's rage filled eyes. "You knew, didn't you?" Meia looked away from her. Barnette slammed Meia into the wall to get her to look at her. "How long have you known?" She growled.

"Ever since we left the colony." She replied. Barnette slammed her back into the wall. "What do you care? He's a good pilot, good friend, and he's saved your butt several times! So why are you so angry with me? All I did was, keep a promise to his sister!" She yelled.

"That thing has a sister?!" Barnette screeched.

"Yeah, and a brother!" Barnette threw Meia to the ground. "You've met both of them." She gasped.

"I seriously doubt that!" Barnette yelled.

"Yes we have." Jura whispered. Barnette looked at her with confusion written on her face. Jura slowly looked over at Meia with sad eyes. "He's his brother, isn't he?" Meia nodded sadly. Barnette still looked confused. "He's Alex's brother, the small boy from Taraaku that he rescued. He's Taraaku's failed Epsilon Project." Barnette went wide eyed.

"Why didn't you tell us you knew?" Amarone asked.

"Zoey told me to keep him a secret." Meia whispered. Magno sighed heavily. "She asked me to keep him safe. She didn't want to hear that he had died too, because that would push their mother over the edge. She would be heart broken to hear that her youngest child was killed."

"Too bad." Barnette switched the safety off on her firearm. Meia's head shot up to look at Barnette with fire blazing in her eyes. "His kind are prone to insanity and kill anything that they deem a threat to them. He'll kill all of us if we don't kill him first." She stated.

Meia ran over to Barnette to pin her against the wall before she could leave. "I won't let you!" She growled.

"Get a hold of yourself, Meia! He's a threat, and will kill us all if we don't stop him!" She snapped.

"I made a promise to Zoey that I would keep him as safe as I could! I won't let you kill him!" Meia turned to Magno with sad eyes. "Where is he?" Meia let Barnette go as she continued to look at Magno with her sad eyes. "Please tell me where he is. There's still time to calm him down before his mind begins to run wild."

"He's… he's in his room." Celtic replied. "He locked the door and I don't think we'll be able to get in anytime soon." She added. Celtic looked back at Meia, but found her already gone. _Rain…why did you hide this from us?_

(-)

Meia continued to run towards his room. She could hear Barnette and a few others following her, yelling for her to stop, but she refused to listen. She knew she could save him. She was probably the only one who could at the moment. He wasn't connected to anyone else like he was to her. She stopped once she got to his room. She noted that his mind was already starting to break down. Long scratch marks were lining the walls, blood splatters were on the floor at his door, and she could hear his soft cries. He was scared and alone with people who probably wanted to kill him, and he seemed to believe it.

"You can't help him." Barnette stated. Meia shot her a filthy look as she pressed the button to open the door. She already knew the password to his room, so she had already broken it. "You think you can save him, don't you?"

"I'm the only one that's connected to him." Meia whispered.

"No, you were connected to Alex, not that monster!"

"He's not a monster!" Meia snapped back. Barnette backed up slightly as Meia continued. "He never once tried to kill you, sure he may have hit you a time or two, but that was because you started it, and he just finished it!" She snapped back.

"I won't disagree with you, _Meia_." Barnette hissed back with no respect for her name. "But he's a monster from Taraaku. I've seen how they fight, how they think, how they kill, and I've seen how they turn on everyone."

"He won't turn on us, so long as you don't get involved in this. I can take care of him. I know I can." Meia pressed the button, and the door hissed open.

**(-)**

"There's something you should know about." Zoey stated. Meia gave her a shy look. Zoey for the most part had been asking Meia personal questions about what they did together when they were alone, but this time she sounded very serious, something Meia didn't think she could do. "What I'm about to tell you is classified information."

"Why tell me?" Meia asked.

"It's something you should know about." She replied. Meia nodded for her to continue. "We've known about Alex's death since the beginning, and we've been planning for the worst case scenario where what we saw was correct."

"Wait, you knew?" Zoey nodded. "Then what was that interrogation for? If you knew, then why did you arrest me?"

"We did that because we hadn't told our soldiers yet." Meia blinked in confusion. "Our soldiers would have been devastated if he died like he did. We wanted to wait for him to return with you if our information was wrong. That way, we could avoid a confusion status with our people. You don't know how much they look up to him. If they heard that he died when he truly didn't, there would be a chance that they wouldn't want to work under him since he pulled the ultimate prank."

"But why are you now deciding to label him as KIA? That doesn't make any sense." Meia questioned.

"We're still going to label him as MIA until the convoy that was sent to retrieve him from his colony so he could get some time off, comes back with either his dead body or body parts." Meia looked down at the table with that. "Don't worry, there's still a chance that he survived since the team that was sent was only twenty minutes behind you." Meia looked up with stunned eyes. "The team that was sent to get him, turned around after finding the colony in ruins and seeing a white angle leave heading this way."

"Wing Zero…" Meia whispered to herself.

"They've been following you ever since, but wanted to watch him closely and help when needed." Zoey continued. "I'm sure you're wondering why they never made themselves known, aren't you." Meia nodded. "The team that was sent was a bunch of Pirates that work for us. The team leaders also happens to be a former military soldier that retired after he lost his left eye. His name is Raider Katon, the pilot for DeathScythe Hell. He retired around a year ago, just a few months after he was unfrozen. He, believe it or not, is the third best close range fighter pilot in the force. The reason he chose to not help you, was because he wanted to see how far you could get before he would have to jump in. He was also there when Alex was defeated. We got the message just one hour after it happened. He personally went out to search for him, but before we could get any information on whether or not he found him, the video cut out because they were attacked."

"So Alex could still be alive?" Meia questioned. Zoey looked down at the table. "You don't know yet, do you?"

"We haven't managed to regain a connection with him. So we don't know if they're alive or not." She answered. Meia leaned back in her chair as she looked up at the ceiling. "The reason I'm telling you this, is because you might be taking our youngest brother with you." Meia looked at her in confusion. "You said that he told you everything that happened, so that would mean he told you about the Taraaku boy." Meia nodded her head. "There's a chance that he may be going with you."

"Why? Wouldn't Asaugi hate that idea?"

"That's what I thought, but then she told me that she needed someone that could get you there safely." Meia shot her a look of confusion. "He's one of the best pilots we have now. He's name is Rain E. Switchfoot. I'm sure that you know what the E. stands for." Meia nodded with wide eyes. "He's the only one that can actually go with you. All the other people we had selected incase Alex didn't come back, refused to go anywhere near Taraaku and Mejarru."

"I understand their reasons, I guess." Meia mussed.

"Yeah," Zoey stopped and looked up at the ceiling. Her eyes landed on Meia's again. "There were only two people who could actually go, and you're looking at one of them." Meia blinked in confusion. "I however, can't go because it would cause problems for our people. Despite the fact that they all look up to Alex and mother, they would be devastated if I left them here. The people need a voice, and Alex was their voice. He was the only person that truly listened to them when someone needed to talk to him. He cared for his comrades, and as a reward, they respected him. If I were to leave and Alex did die, then the people would lose hope, and this station would probably crumble. That's why I can't leave."

"But what about your mother, Asaugi? Can't she keep their hopes up?" Zoey shook her head while gazing out of the large window to their left. Meia looked out the window to see the Infinite Justice coming back from recon.

"Despite the fact that she was the main person that helped end the war, she is not viewed the same as us. We don't know why, but we know she doesn't care what the others think about her." Zoey looked back at Meia. "Since I can't leave, that leaves the last choice." She looked back out at the red machine. "He'll probably be going with you unless mother finds another person to go with you, which is highly unlikely."

"Why can't she send someone else, like that Blood fellow or someone that's like her?"

"We've already probably lost one; our army can't afford to lose another one of them. If we sent any of them with you, and they didn't come, the same thing would probably happen. The people look up to us, and we have to be here to help them get through this new enemy."

"So you're being forced to send someone that people don't naturally like?" Meia asked with sadness in her voice. Zoey nodded sadly. "Alex told me… that he has other features that makes people think he's a monster. Is that why he's not liked?" Zoey once again nodded. "Bastards…"

"I wish people were more like you then." Meia looked back at Zoey with her regular expression. "Our people view him as a monster, but he really isn't. But… they're right to a certain extent."

"How can that be?" Meia snapped. "You said he wasn't one?"

"The reason I'm telling you this, is because I'm trying to give you the means to stop him if he goes insane." Meia now shot her a look of confusion. "On his right wrist, is something that looks like a PDA, but it's really a hallow gram generator to mask his appearance. It was given to him about two years ago, just after Alex left. Alex used to protect him from the idiots that chose to view him as a monster, rather than a human being."

"I see what this has to do with his features and all, but where do I fit in?"

Zoey looked down at Meia with a smile on her lips. "Alex would have married you when you both got here." Meia stared at her in shock. "If you're wondering how I know, it's because of what you said he drew. He didn't draw that as a means of getting you out of his head, or getting the image out of his head, he did it because he was truly in love with you."

"I still don't understand." Meia stammered. "How can that help me?"

"You have Alex's scent all over you. We may not be able to detect it, Rain sure as hell will. His senses are stronger than any ordinary human, and as such, he'll be able to smell him on you. You said it yourself that Alex was always with you. That's how he'll know that you were close. He will ask you about it a few times, but don't be alarmed."

"So because Alex's scent is on me, he'll be attracted to me?"

"Not in that way, but yes, he'll be attracted to you." Zoey stated. Meia nodded, understanding what that meant. "Here's where that scent thing may have to come into play. Rain is naturally afraid of anyone when he's seen in his true form as we've called it. When his "PDA" runs out of power, his features will be revealed, and if anyone were to see him and try to hurt him or make a strange gesture towards him, his mind would perceive it has an attack. This has happened once to him, but Alex was able to get him calmed down before anything bad happened. If anything bad happens to him, before you can calm him down, supposing you can, he'll go into an insanity mode where he thinks everyone is trying to kill him."

"Why would his mind think that?"

"When we brought him here, everyone was hateful towards him. If you add that to what he went under at the Taraaku science lab he was in, then it would make sense." Meia nodded sadly as her imagination went to work on what he might have gone through. "There is however a time limit to his insanity. If you can't stop within three minutes of the moment it happened, then the only way to calm him down is to tranq him. There was another moment where he went insane, but he was with me and I couldn't get him under control because no one told me he went insane. You have to stop it before the time limit, otherwise, the chances of him calming down is slim to none."

"But I haven't been around Alex for almost two months!" Meia stated. "How can his scent still be on me?"

"I imagine you've been in his room several times, crying on his bed, wishing for him to come back to you?" Meia nodded sadly as she wiped a tear away from her cheek. "His scent will still be on you. You can stop him if such an event takes place, and if he is selected to go with you."

"Why would you send him if he's so dangerous?"

"He's the only one that can get you home and is willing to go." Zoey stated. "I don't want him to go because I'm afraid of that happening, but at the same time, I'm happy that he's going with you." Meia looked at her with confused eyes. "Rain never tries to make friends, because he's afraid that if anyone saw him like that, he would be hated, and then they would attack him. He would rather not make friends since he doesn't like being hurt."

"So we have no choice but to take him?" Zoey nodded. "Is there anything else I need to know about?"

"You have to make sure that no one interferes with him when you try to calm him down, otherwise, they might end up dead." She stated.

**(-)**

The door to Rain's room hissed open. Meia's eyes shot open as she saw something head her way. Meia quickly pushed Barnette out of the way as three throwing daggers dug into her sides. Meia gasped in pain while keeping her eyes on the terrified pilot in the corner of his room. Meia gritted her teeth as she refused to cry out in pain while she walked towards him. Rain was still crying as he dug his fingernails into his arms, drawing blood.

"Rain… its okay." Meia whispered as she walked into the room. Barnette slowly got up from Meia's push and noticed that Meia had a few daggers in her side. She gasped as she quickly stood up. "Barnette, don't even think about coming in here!" Meia stated firmly.

Barnette looked inside the room and snarled at the sight of Rain huddling in the corner like a beaten child. Barnette slowly picked up her gun while keeping an eye on Rain. _Why can't she see that he's a threat? _

"Rain, it's okay. No's going to hurt you, I promise." Meia held out her arms for him to take them. "Please come out, you've got a few people that care about you really worried." She stated.

"No. Bakamono won't go. Bakamono won't go." Rain cried while holding his head. Meia winced slightly at his choice of words, since she knew what it meant. She winced as she watched him cram his fingers back into shoulders, drawing blood with the pressure he placed on them.

"Rain, you're not a bakamono." Meia whispered. Rain stopped crying and looked at Meia with sad eyes. Meia smiled as he inched closer to her while sniffing slightly. "It's okay Rain. I promise nothing bad will happen to you."

Rain slowly made it into Meia's arms, calming down as she wrapped her arms around him. Rain's eyes latched with Barnette's cold ones as she lowered her firearm. Rain's eyes shot open with fear replacing his sad one. Rain instantly started struggling in Meia's arm as he tried to escape. Barnette raised her weapon, waiting for him to do something. Meia tried to contain the squirming wolf child, but to no avail. Meia instantly felt pain course through her body.

"Rain… please… calm… down." Meia staggered. Barnette was instantly in the room, shoving Meia to the side. "Barnette, no! Get out of here!" Meia yelled.

"Shut up, I'll end this here and now!" She yelled while turning to face Rain again. "This ends here, Rain!" She yelled. Barnette pointed the gun at his temple, ready to pull the trigger. Barnette instantly felt a sharp pain shot through her body and was forced to release the weapon. Barnette fell backwards as Rain gave her a long gash with what remained of his top left wrist blade.

"Barnette!" Meia gasped. Rain ran out of the room with the door barely being able to open in time. "Rain, stop!" She yelled while holding her side. She slowly got up and ran out of the room with Barnette following behind her. "If you had just listened to me, you wouldn't have been injured!" Meia snapped. "Seal him in! We can't let him get off this ship!" Meia ordered.

"Why do you care for him?!" Barnette yelled. Meia stopped as the doors hissed closed, sealing Rain in the hallway. "Why's he so important to you that you're willing to put us all in danger!? WHY?!"

"He's Alex's younger brother!" She yelled back. Barnette balanced herself against the wall while glaring at her. "You may not care about him because he's different, but he's really not! All you see is a monster, but everyone else won't view him that way!"

"No they won't!" Barnette yelled back. "They're going to hate him once they realize what he is! You can't stop them all!"

"No they won't because they don't care about that." Meia defended. Barnette shot her a dirty look.

"Meia, Barnette, are you okay?!" Dita asked. Meia and Barnette looked back to see Dita, Hibiki, Duerro, Jura, Gascgone, and Misty staring at them. "Where's Rain at?" Dita asked while helping Barnette stand up.

"The monsters' behind that door!" Barnette hissed.

"What monster?" Jura asked. Barnette shot her a strange look. "You're not talking about Rain are you?" She questioned. Barnette stared at her in shock. "He's not a monster, Barnette. He's just misunderstood." She snapped.

Barnette opened her mouth to say something, but a loud banging sound reached their ears, causing them to wonder what was going on. "Okaa-san! Nee-chan! Nii-san! Please help me!" Rain's cry could be heard from the other side of the door.

"What's wrong with him?" Misty asked.

"His mind is coming up with every bad scenario where he dies." Meia stated. Misty stared at her in shock before turning her gaze to the door where Rain's cry's could still be heard. "I don't know what he's saying, but if I were to guess; I'd say he's calling for Alex, Zoey, and Asaugi for help."

"What makes you say that?" Dita questioned.

"He's afraid of us and is looking for his family." Gascgone answered. Dita looked up at her with sad eyes.

"We need to get to him before he kills himself." Jura stated. Meia nodded, and slowly stood up to walk over to the keypad.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Maya screeched. Meia turned to look at the floating AI that still sounded rather pissy. Meia looked back at the door with sad eyes. Maya floated beside her, and Meia could almost feel her death glare that was penetrating her skull. "What… the… hell… is… going… on… here…?" Maya said slowly.

"Rain's gone postal." Barnette snapped. Barnette instantly had the little AI in her face. "He's gone insane and needs to be taken care of."

"If you plan on killing him, I'll make your life a living hell, you filthy slut." Maya threatened. Barnette gulped at the AI's threat while watching as she flew over to Meia. "Meia, how long has been like this?" She questioned.

"It's been about ten minutes." She answered.

"He's too unstable to deal with, we need to tranq him." She stated. She could feel Barnette's grin behind her. She had half a mind to have Hibiki concrete the idea of a living hell by having him slam a foot on hers, or steal all of her guns to hide them to make her mad.

"No." Meia stated as her hand brushed over the keypad. "I can bring him back. I promise." She whispered as she opened the door that was sealing Rain in.

The image brought tears to everyone but Barnette. A large blood splatter was up against the wall that had been dented in by Rain's head. The only reason they knew that was because his face was covered with it, while he continued to cry for his family. Long scratch marks lined the walls, his clothing, and the back door. Rain was huddling up against the wall, still crying out to his family, while what remained of his wrist blades were digging into his shoulders. Maya took one look and gasped. Meia herself did the same thing, but she had tears in her eyes at the sight of his bloody body.

"Meia, you need to be careful." Maya warned. Meia glanced back at the AI. "I assume Zoey talked to you about the risks after he's been unstable for more than three minutes?" Meia nodded. "If things begin to look bad, slowly move away from him so he won't…"

"He won't hurt me." She stated. Maya seemed skeptical about that as she looked over her wounds. "He won't kill me, because I smell like Alex to him. He won't kill me because of that." She stated while slowly walking up to Rain. Rain looked up at her with fear in his eyes as Meia leaned down beside him. "Rain, it's okay. You don't need to fight anymore. No ones going to hurt. I promise." She once again held out her arms to him. Rain continued to look at her with the same fear in his eyes, but he was slowly walking towards her. Meia smiled as he slowly got into her grasp. Once he was against her chest, she slowly wrapped her arms around him as if to cradle a baby. "It's okay now. Everything will be alright. You have my word." Meia whispered. Rain's eyes slowly lost their sense of fear as they were soon replaced with tired ones.

Meia blinked as she realized that his body was going limp. She decided to sit on the floor while he continued to fall asleep. "Meia… Nee-chan…" Meia blinked as she looked down at his sleeping form.

"Meia, is he okay?" Magno asked as she walked up to her. Meia nodded. "He certainly is a hard headed little fellow, isn't he?" Magno motioned towards the medium sized dent in the wall. Meia paled at the sight of the dent while checking his head for any major injuries.

"Let's take him to the Infirmary so I can check him over." Duerro suggested. Meia shook her head as she slowly stood up. "His injuries could be worse than what we can see without the proper medical equipment."

"He'll be okay." Meia whispered. Duerro nodded and slowly helped her pick up the sleeping pilot. "I… I need something to clean up his blood." She stammered.

"Don't worry, Meia." Dita said sadly as she and Misty ran off.

"Let's get him to his room. If he wakes up, I'm sure he'll feel safer in there." Meia told him. Duerro nodded again and slowly made his way to Rain's room. Meia passed Barnette on the way. "You have to find a reason to hate someone yourself, not because someone said so." She whispered. Barnette scrunched up her nose at that while Meia, Duerro, Rain, and Maya vanished into Rain's room.

"I think we should start cleaning up this hallway, don't 'cha think?" Gascgone suggested. Barnette agreed, and was about to go get something to help clean up when Gascgone grabbed her by the shoulder. "Except you. You'll be coming with me to the Infirmary to get that long cut of yours looked at." Barnette nodded slowly. Gascgone helped Barnette limp to the Infirmary at her own pace.

(-)

Duerro slowly put Rain on his bed. Duerro had already removed Rain of his shirt, showing how he made wrist blades work. Duerro had removed them so he could get a good look at his injuries. He was lucky that he stopped bleeding almost the minute his wounds opened up. Duerro was amazed that he was that advanced, watching as what wounds had yet to close, did close.

"He truly is amazing." Duerro whispered.

"That's what Zoey said to me." Meia replied as she winced in pain. Duerro walked over to her side with a First Aid Kit in hand. Meia looked down at her own injuries with a sigh. She slowly removed her flight suit so he could start bandaging her up. "They aren't that serious, but I guess that won't matter, will it?" Duerro shook his head as he continued to wrap up her torso.

"You're right, but they needed to be treated or they could get infected." Duerro commented. He finished wrapping up her chest so that her back injury would heal properly.

"I can't believe this happened while I was out cold." Maya whispered. "This is all Barnette's fault!" She yelled.

"No, it's Ryu's fault for trying to kill Rain." Meia stated. Maya flew up to Meia. "They ran into him at the colony, and Rain fought him to keep BC and Gascgone alive. He crushed his PDA or Hallow Gram Generator during the fight." Meia stated.

"Ryu? Wait, did he have Spark with him?" Maya asked.

"I don't know. All I know is that Rain fought him and got his thing crushed by him." Meia said while putting her flight suit back on. Maya sighed as she vanished to go figure out what happened. Duerro looked down at Rain one more time before deciding to leave. Once Duerro left, the door hissed open again to reveal Dita and Misty with a bucket of water and a wash cloth. "Thanks you two, but I think I can take it from here." Meia said with a small smile.

"No, you've been injured." Misty protested. "We'll clean him up as best we can. You need to rest now. We'll ask you for help if we need any." Meia nodded as she leaned back in his computer chair.

(-)

"So that's what happened." Maya gasped while floating over to Gascgone. "I never would have guessed that he would fight Ryu that badly. I guess I should have stayed with him to prevent something like that from happening." She mussed.

"It's okay." Gascgone said while looked at Barnette's bandaged torso and chest. She shook her head at the sight of her wounded friend. "Did you learn anything from that?" Gascgone moaned. Barnette grumbled something.

"Listen here, you goofy bitch!" Maya snapped. Barnette looked over at the AI with all the hate she could muster. "If I had a real body, I would have kicked your ass all the way from here, to hell, then back, then hell again and then back here before killing you. But since I can't do that, I'll just settle for making you apologize to Rain for what you did. If you don't, let's just say you won't be sleeping anytime soon." Barnette gulped at the threat, knowing full well that the AI could stay awake for almost a month with no problems. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Barnette gulped.

(-)

Misty, Dita, and Meia sat in Rain's room, waiting for him to wake up. Rain had been asleep for nearly three hours now, and wasn't showing any signs of waking anytime soon. Misty and Dita had done a good job on cleaning Rain's blood from his chest, arms, and face since that was the only place that Meia told them to get. The duo agreed, and covered him up with a thick blanket to make sure he didn't get sick from loosing so much blood.

"I wonder what's going to happen when he wakes up." Misty questioned.

"I don't know, but I hope he doesn't do that again." Meia sighed. "I don't think my body could take another episode like that again."

"I hope that he'll be okay, I don't know what Maya would do if he were to die." Dita sobbed. Meia had a mental picture of an enraged Zoey and Asaugi flash through her mind while Maya's blue sphere was floating beside them with Wing Zero under her control. Meia shook the thought free from her mind while looking down at Rain.

"I'm sure he'll be okay." Misty stated. "I can't see him dieing on us just yet." Meia nodded at that as Rain groaned loudly. Rain slowly sat up sat up while rubbing his eyes. "You okay?" Misty whispered. Rain's eyes shot open as he tried to get away from her. Meia, seeing Rain's panicky expression, quickly grabbed him into a hug, or tried to anyways. Misty beat her to it, and Rain slowly calmed down, noticing that Meia was in the room and watching her every move. "Please, don't ever pull a stunt like that again." Misty ordered.

"You gave us all a good scare, Rain." Dita stated. Rain looked over at Dita with wide eyes. Dita just smiled while Misty continued to calm him down. "Just please don't do anything like that again, please?" She begged.

"Why are you in here?" Rain asked.

"We wanted to make sure you were okay." Misty told him while letting him go. Rain blinked as he looked into her eyes. "Meia already told me everything about you, your brother, your sister, and even what things might have been like for you on the colony." She stated.

"Why?" He questioned. The three women blinked in confusion. Wasn't it obvious? "Why for me? Why would you protect something like me?"

"Why?" Meia questioned. Rain nodded. "I thought that would be obvious. You're Alex's younger brother, someone that was very important to me. I made a promise to your mother and sister to keep you as safe as I could. I intend to keep my promise to them." She stated firmly.

"You protected me, because you made a promise to Okaa-san and Nee-chan?" Rain questioned. Meia nodded while Dita and Misty looked at him in confusion.

"Rain, what does that mean?" Misty asked.

"Okaa-san mean's mother, Nee-chan means sister, and Nii-san means brother." Rain explained. Meia could tell that he was still really worried about being in front of them in his current state.

"What does bakamono mean?" Dita asked.

"Monster." Meia replied. The three teens turned to face Meia in confusion. "Alex taught me a little bit of Japanese, but I only know a few things. I guessed that's what bakamono meant."

"I see." Rain whispered.

"Come on, there's a few people that want us to take you to see them when you woke up. They're really worried about you." Meia stated while standing up. Rain stared at the floor, not wanting to move. "Misty, Dita, wait for us outside." The two women nodded and ran outside. Once the door closed, Meia sighed, and looked over at Rain with sad eyes. "I know you don't want to do this, but you have to."

"Why?"

"If an enemy attacks, you have to go out to help us. That means they'll see you. That means that you need to get over this fear. If you don't, the fear will control you the rest of your life."

"Not that. I mean, why did you help me? I know it wasn't because you promised or because you had to. Why did you do it?" Rain looked up at her with sad eyes.

"You're Alex's brother. I'd feel bad if I failed to protect you. I don't want to fail you like I did Alex. I wouldn't be able to bring myself to look at anyone after that." She answered. "Why do you ask?" 

"I just wanted to know." He told her with a shrug. Meia raised a brow as his tail wrapped around his waist. "I guess it doesn't matter now does it." Meia nodded as he slowly released his tail.

"Since I answered one of your questions, that means you can answer mine." Rain stopped and stared at her in confusion. "Did you mean it? Did you mean it when you called me, Meia-nee-chan?"

"Yes, I meant it." Rain whispered.

"Thank you." Meia pulled him into a hug. "You don't know how much that actually means to me." Rain slowly returned the hug. "Ever since Alex told me about you, I wondered what you might have thought of me, but I guess I shouldn't have been to worried about it."

"Yeah, but, let's keep it our little secrete." Rain suggested. Meia smiled and nodded while pushing him towards the door. "I'm going. I'm going." He mumbled while walking out the door.

(-)

"I hope Rain's okay." Celtic muttered for the hundredth time. Amarone moaned in agreement for the hundredth time as well. The bridge had been ghostly silent, other than when Celtic would say that, and Amarone would moan her agreement.

"Don't worry, that kid 'ill bounce back from anything." Gascgone stated. "I was the one to hit him over the head with a steel pipe that day he was found, remember." Magno nodded in agreement while chuckling.

The door hissed opened with Misty and Dita walking out. The crew turned to the sound to see Misty smiling at something. Dita was doing the same thing, but she had her eyes closed from her smile. Meia soon walked out with Rain beside her, looking at the ground. The crew brightened up at the sight of Rain on the bridge.

"It's good to see you again, Rain." Amarone said with a smile. Rain raised his head to look her in the eye before dropping his gaze back to the floor. "It's okay. I don't blame you for what happened earlier; you were scared and wanted to hide. It's perfectly okay with me. Besides, you look cuter that way." She motioned his ears and tail. Rain blinked a few times before looking over at her with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, Maya already explained why you did that. It's okay." Celtic and Ezra said in unison. BC nodded her head in agreement while Magno just smiled.

Gascgone walked over to him with a large grin on her face. "Hey kiddo, I hope you feel better since you did do a number to that skull of yours when you banged it into the wall." She stated while sticking her hands in her pockets. Rain smiled, and then punched her on the head with a grin on his face. Meia was about to yell at him when Gascgone opened her mouth to speak. "I guess I deserve that for knocking you out nearly six years ago, huh?" Rain nodded with a grin on his face. "I guess what goes around, comes around." She moaned.

"Yeah, I guess it does." Rain agreed.

"Well, now that we got that out of the way, what are you going to do?" Magno asked. Rain looked at her with a confused expression. "I can't imagine that you would want to stay here, but I'm certain you're aware that you're almost a month away from your colony."

Rain nodded while thinking. "I'll stay, but so long as no one bugs me about this problem of mine. I don't want to have a repeat of today. My head hurts too much." He stated. Magno nodded with a grin, as did all the crew personal. "I guess I better get used to being seen like this, huh?" He moaned sadly. He looked at his tail with sad eyes.

"Don't worry; Alex had already explained most of the stuff about you. You aren't really that scary." Amarone stated while giving a light tug on his ears. Rain mumbled something about personal space, but Amarone, Celtic, and Dita continued to play with his ears. Meia, Gascgone, and Magno smiled at the sight.

Rain instantly jumped behind Meia while growling at the door. The Bridge Bunnies stared at him in confusion while Meia had a feeling that she knew who was behind the door. Rain continued to hide behind her as the door opened up to reveal Barnette with a sad look on her face. Gascgone raised a brow at her presence while she walked in. Meia narrowed her eyes Barnette while making sure she couldn't get to him. Barnette slowly pulled out her pistol, much to the crew's worry. Barnette took a deep breath and placed the weapon on the ground. Once the weapon was on the ground, she kicked it to the left, making sure to make it clear that she meant him no harm. Rain continued to growl at her while Meia made sure to cover him up as much as she could. Barnette continued by removing her weapon belt, and once again, she threw it across to her gun. Rain watched her throw the item, and then looked at the gun that was lying beside it. Rain slowly stopped his growling, as she slowly started to walk forwards towards him. She stopped about half way. Meia looked at her with confusion written in her eyes. Rain looked at Barnette with questioning eyes. Once he realized that she meant him no harm, he walked out from behind Meia, much to her surprise, and started to walk towards her. Rain stopped in front of her, staring into her eyes.

"Hey." Barnette said.

"Hey." Rain replied.

The two didn't say anything after that. They just stood there, waiting for the other to say something. The crew on the bridge held their breath as they wanted for the first one to make the first move. Rain sighed and opened his mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry." Barnette interrupted him. Rain closed his mouth while diverting his gaze from hers. "I know you must hate me after what I tried to do, but I only did it because of a bad memory with people like you. You aren't the first person I've dealt with."

Rain placed a hand on her gut. "I should be apologizing to you for hurting you." Rain whispered as his hand up her wound. Barnette bit her bottom lip, knowing he was right, but at the same time knowing she was right. "I'm sorry for hurting you so bad. I just lost control of myself when I shouldn't have. I'm sorry for hurting you." He removed his hand from her wound. "I'm really sorry for…"

"Stop it." Barnette ordered. Rain stopped and looked at her with sad eyes. "I've already told you that I was sorry for trying to kill you. All you did was try to get away from us. What I did was worse."

"No. I tried to kill you too, twice I might add." Rain stated. Barnette nodded knowing he was right. "How about this, we just forget this ever happened. How's that sound?"

Barnette smiled as he gently pulled her into a hug. She slowly wrapped her arm around his waist, returning the hug. "Good enough for me." She whispered. "If I killed you, I wouldn't have anyone to butt heads with." She said with a grin. Rain smiled and released her. Barnette walked down to where he gun was and slowly picked it up while putting her belt back on. Rain watched her leave with a smile.

"I wonder how long it'll be before they realize they like each other." Misty whispered to Meia.

"I don't know, but it better be soon." Meia moaned with a grin.

(-)

"So he's starting to like every one now?" Zoey questioned as she turned off the new message she received from Meia. "Still, I wonder how he broke his favorite little toy." She said with a smile.

"I'm not sure, but he wouldn't allow it to be broken so easily." Asaugi stated. "Still, I hope that no one tries anything to hurt him. If they do, I'll kill them for hurting him." Asaugi growled.

"Don't worry; I doubt they'll let that happen." Suki stated. "Besides, if they did try anything like that, I'm sure that they're aware that you'd kill them without a second thought."

"True." Willow laughed.

(-)

"I will kill you, you little pain in the ass." Rain growled. Meia growled as well. Maya blinked in confusion. Dita just stared at Maya's human form. Maya had Dita's hair, but was tied in a ponytail. She had a long trench coat with a plan shirt underneath it, and baggy jeans to match. She wore boots with her outfit while a sword that matched Alex's was strapped to her back. Rain had somehow managed to giver a lighter form of blue eyes, that made her seem a bit happier, something that Maya didn't seem to like. But after getting Meia's approval of the new look, she didn't really care.

"Take it easy." Maya moaned. "For all we know, that data disk could have been something else." 

"Yeah, and besides, you just downloaded it." Barnette added. Though it had only been two days since the incident, things had quickly gone back to normal. Barnette was still picking fights with Rain, though she had more ammo to throw at him, but that also meant Rain had a bit more as well. Surprisingly enough, Barnette started to win most of the fights. Rain had started cooking in the kitchen for Meia, Dita, and Misty ever since the incident and Barnette was often seen snooping around just to see what he was making.

"I know that." He grumbled. Rain looked back at the computer screen as a bunch of green lights kicked on. A system check slowly came to life. Rain was smiling at the screen as it finally gave him the all clear to wake him up.

A black male appeared before them, wearing a fear beaten up duster, with a pair of holey jeans, cowboy boots, and a plain black shirt. His hair was messy as hell, and came down to the base of his neck. His eyes were a dark red, proving that someone could change certain parts of their body to a different color. Once he was finally aware that he was okay, he glared at Rain, which prompted Rain to glare back at him.

"Still idiot you're an boy wolf." Dale muttered. Dale went wide eyed as he then glared at Rain with all the hate he could muster. "Kill you I'll."

"Son of a bitch." The team muttered in unison, say for Dita of course.


	9. Original Smile

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 9 Original Smile

"What's wrong with him?" Magno asked Rain. Three weeks had passed since Dale's activation, and things weren't looking too good for him. His speech pattern was the main problem, and no matter how much he tried to fix him, things just got worse. Magno didn't want another repeat of what had happened just two days after he was awakened, and that ended up being a bad day for everyone. Dale had gone on a major cursing spree where no one was safe from him. He also became a major pervert, surprising girls in the shower. In the end, Rain had more women yelling at him than what he truly wanted.

"I have no idea." Rain groaned as he crashed his on the table. Meia winced slightly at the sound of him smashing his head again.

"Can you fix him?" Gascgone asked, leaning back in her chair. She didn't want a repeat of the incident, and was trying to help in anyway possible.

"Have you tried looking at his Speech Unit or something?" Barnette asked. Rain raised his head to give her a warning glare. "I'm just asking. Maybe you missed it or something like that."

"Right, I'll go look in between Speech Unit lane and Sentence Butchering lane. I'll be right back." Rain mocked. The others all sighed knowing full well where this was going to lead to.

"Your metaphors suck." Barnette shot back.

"You have a fat ass." Rain countered.

"How would you know, have you been staring at it lately?" Barnette hissed.

"When you bend over, I'm sure that even my sister can see it!" Rain snapped.

"Why you…" Barnette growled as she glared at Rain. Rain continued to glare at her, knowing full well that he had just won the fight. For those in the room that had listened to the whole thing, they too knew that Rain had won. Barnette however, knew she would win the staring contest for one reason.

"Rain, knock it off." Meia mumbled. Rain stopped glaring at Barnette with a heavy sigh. Barnette smiled, knowing she won the last part of the fight. "Rain, are you sure you've checked everything. I know you've been over everything, but could you have downloaded that file wrong or just forgotten to put in a certain file that he needed?"

"Yes Meia, I'm sure I didn't miss anything. If I did, he would be working right, and we wouldn't be having this conversation." Rain said flatly.

Dale and Maya both flickered into the room. "Me fix damn now it!" Dale yelled. Rain shot him a dirty look. "Yours up!" He screeched before flickering away.

"I think you need to head back down to the Engineer Room to help him." BC said with a sigh. "I think the quicker you get him fixed, the quicker things will calm down around here." Rain mumbled a few curses as he left. He made sure that they were in Japanese, so no one could understand what he was saying.

Magno, BC, Gascgone, and Barnette watched him leave with a brow raised. Their stare soon turned to Meia who was shaking her head. They knew that Maya had been teaching Meia a few things in Japanese, so they weren't to surprised to se her shaking her head.

"What did he say?" Barnette asked. Meia shot her a strange look while she continued. "I know what Chikusyou means, but what do the others mean?"

"I'm not going to tell you, but I intend to have a little talk to him about his choice of words." Meia said with a smile. Barnette sighed as she watched her leave to follow Rain.

"Those two sure have become close, haven't they?" Gascgone stated with a grin. Magno and BC nodded in agreement. "I wonder what kind of relationship they have now." Gascgone looked over at Barnette with a sly grin. Barnette wasn't paying attention. Ever since Meia walked out, she had been staring at the door. "Maybe they're dating now." Barnette looked over at Gascgone with a skeptical look in her eye. "Jealous?"

"What would make you think that?" Barnette stuttered. Gascgone just smiled as she watched Barnette's face change bright red. "I don't care what kind of relationship those two have."

"Good, because I'd hate for you to think that you have a chance with him since Misty seems to be doing a better job at getting him than you could." Gascgone told her with a grin.

(-)

"Voice pattern is still showing all green." Maya stated. Rain grumbled as he continued typing. "Maybe… he's doing it on purpose."

"No, he's the one that taught me how to answer riddles; I know he wouldn't act like this." Rain answered as he leaned back in his chair. "What I can't figure out is where we went wrong. I mean, we did everything by the book. So there's no possible way this could have happened. We've cleaned his chip several times, thinking that the problem was created by his environment when we found him. We've been running System Analysis on him since day one. So there's no way we could have missed anything like this."

"What if it has something to do with the disk?" Meia suggested as she walked in and leaned up against the back wall. "It would make sense. I mean, what if all the information wasn't there. Like he needed three disks, but we only have copies one and three. That would make sense."

"No, Spark assured me that all the information was there. He said that we shouldn't be missing anything." Rain said as he spun around to look at Meia in the face. "So, you obviously came here to talk to me about something, so what is it?" Rain asked with a smile.

"Your arguments with Barnette are getting a little out of control." She stated flatly. Rain huffed while spinning back to face the computer screen. "You're constantly been starting them in meetings, on the bridge, and that one time you started one during the middle of a space fight. These have got to stop."

"She starts them." Rain protested. "It's not like I go around trying to pick fights. If I did that, then I would be no better than Zoey-nee-chan."

"You're doing it again." Meia stated with a grin. Rain grumbled a few curses. "Listen, I may not know exactly what you are saying, but I at least know a few of the words you use. Would your mother like to know what you've been saying?" Rain gulped and went back to typing. "I just want to make sure that you stay alive, because I've already been threatened by Zoey, and lets just say I don't want to die in that manner of fashion."

"Alright, I'll try to stop cursing as much. And I promise to stop fighting with Barnette." Rain mumbled. Meia smiled while walking towards him. "Meia, why do you think she doesn't like me?"

Meia blinked in confusion while trying not to give away her little secrete. "Maybe it's just something she likes doing now." Rain groaned at that. "Look, Alex and I did the same thing. Maybe it's something like that."

"Yeah, but Barnette seems to really not like me. She spends half of her time now just spying on me. When I screw something up, she yells at me, even more than what Zoey did." Rain moaned. Meia just smiled as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I really should have just stayed in bed when you all showed up that day. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble."

"Well, I'm sure that…" The alarms began blaring loudly. "Shit, we've go incoming!" Meia yelled while the two ran out of towards the hanger.

(-)

Magno growled as a new Harvester Flag Ship appeared before them. Already it had deployed its Cubes, Carriers, and Clones. The large Fleet that had been looming in the distance was nearly within firing range, but the Flag Ship seemed to be hanging back while its fighters took the front line.

"The pilots are already aware of what we're going up against." Ezra informed the crew.

"Hibiki has a plan." Amarone stated. The crew turned to face her with smiles on their faces, despite the large monster looming in the distance. "Hibiki wants Bart to ready his weapons while Vandread Jura gets into position. He says the idea is similar to the last time we fought one. Only this time we put a barrier around them, and fire at the barrier. He thinks that should make the inside hot enough to melt them away."

"Bart, did you get all of that?" Magno yelled.

"_Yeah, I heard it all."_ Bart replied.

"Alright then, lets get this over with." Magno stated.

"_Rain E. Switchfoot, Justice, Kicking off!" _Rain yelled as his red machine launched out into space. He was quickly joined by the Dread squadrons, flying beside Meia and Dita's Dreads.

"Let's hope that little one can deal with these monsters, only this time, come back alive." Magno whispered.

(-)

"Rain, stay away from the Flag Ship." Meia ordered. Rain looked over at her Dread. "Hibiki intends to capture the Flag Ship in a barrier so we can super heat the inside of it to melt the enemy away. We've already used this trick on a few Egg Carriers before you joined us, so we know the trick will work."

"So all I have to do is stay back and wait for them to throw up the barrier, then attack?" Meia nodded. "Alright, I'll take care of any fighters outside the barrier before we fire at it." Rain looked up ahead to see Vandread Jura being born. _Brother, I could use your help with this one._

"Alright, let's go!" Hibiki yelled as he maneuvered the combination through hoards of enemy Cubes, Carriers, and their clones'. Jura was smacking anything she could with the long crab arms, while making sure that nothing got to close to them. One clone came up behind them, but a quick shot from Barnette turned the fake into nothing more than space dust.

"Thanks, Barnette!" Jura hollered. Barnette's face appeared on screen, smiling as she nodded. "Barnette, fall back; we're putting up the barrier now!" Jura barked. Barnette's Dread flew up to where Rain and Meia were blasting into a hoard of Carriers.

"Nice of you to join the party, Barnette." Rain greeted, slashing a few more Carriers into tiny pieces of their former selves. Barnette snorted at him, but acknowledged his greeting by blasting two Carriers at once. Barnette smirked as she turned to see Rain having a hard time. Meia appeared beside him, blasting the Cubes away. "Thanks Meia."

"Just keep your eyes pealed." She moaned. Rain moaned something that no one could understand, but went back to killing the enemy.

Barnette kept her eyes on Jura as they began to spread the barrier. Before the barrier could be completed, something appeared from inside the partially formed sphere, taking the shape of the Nirvana. Bart could be heard cursing like a sailor at the sight of his clone. Bart managed to put Rain to shame with some of the words he used, the only reason was that everyone could understand him, where as they couldn't understand what Rain would say. As the barrier finished being formed, Bart, along with all the Dread pilots, and the Infinite Justice, fired at the barrier. Before the missiles and laser rounds could strike the barrier, the Nirvana clone fired off a volley of red missiles that tore the barrier apart from the inside out. Each laser beam hit the shield emitters, knocking the barrier loose before the remaining beams crashed into Vandread Jura.

"Shit!" Rain and Barnette yelled in unison. Rain, Barnette, Meia, and Dita all began heading towards the broken Vandread Jura, hoping for a miracle of some sort. Once they arrived, Barnette looked down inside the combination and gasped. "Jura's injured badly!"

"Damn it all!" Rain yelled as he continued to fire at the large clone. Anything he fired at the massive fake would just bounce off since a Vandread Jura clone continued to place a barrier around itself to block the shots fired. The Nirvana clone opened up with another volley of red threads, tearing its own fleet apart with its shots. Rain blasted off to keep the large leviathan at bay with the help of two Dread Squadrons. The rest of the Dread teams hung back, blasting anything that tried to get near Vandread Jura.

"Don't worry girls! I'm almost there!" Gascgone said as her Delivery Craft appeared in the distance. Meia began heading towards her, shooting down anything that tried to get near her craft. Gascgone smirked as she watched Meia blast three more clones that tried to get a sneak attack in on the underbelly of her craft.

"Son of a bitch!" Rain yelled. Meia and Gascgone turned their attention to Rain as he continued to dodge the red threads of death. Rain was too far away to guard the combination, but it no longer mattered since the clone was now his primary concern. The Nirvana clone continued to blast its way through its own forces in an attempt to shoot down Rain. Rain smirked as he watched the clone give up. "Giving up already?" Rain joked. The clones' response, it transformed into a humanoid robot version of itself. "Oh shit!" Rain cursed.

"Way to go, dumbass!" Barnette yelled. "You just had to piss it off, didn't you?!" 

"Screw you bitch! How was I supposed to know it could do that?!" He shot back.

"Enough, we're leaving this area!" Meia yelled. The two bickering pilots nodded while waiting for Gascgone to pick up the combination. "We need to protect Gascgone so she can grab Jura and Hibiki!" Meia ordered.

"Right." Rain said while blasting three Carriers into space dust. "This would be a piece of cake if I had the METEOR System!" Rain yelled while he continued to blast at the new arrivals.

"Shut up! We'll kill it without your special weapons if we have to!" Barnette stated. Rain nodded in agreement, knowing she was right.

_But this would still be easier if I had it._ He moaned. Rain's eyes latched onto the red core of the giant Nirvana clone. A smile appeared on his face as he blasted off towards it. _If I can hit that, it won't be able to fight back anymore. _Rain thought while dodging enemy fire. The clone fired off another salvo of red death, forcing Rain to dodge them and slow down. Once the missiles stopped being fired, Rain dashed in, and slashed across the core of the machine. Red sparks zipped off the core as he did it again. Rain smirked as he watched the clone start to lose its red aura that was surrounding its core. The beast went silent as Rain began heading back to the other pilots, blasting anything that got in his way.

"Nice job, Rain!" Dita cried.

"Don't thank me yet!" Rain stated. Dita nodded while she continued to blast at the enemy units. Rain forced his machine into barrel roll while releasing his jet pack to punch through eight Carriers, allowing the Dreads easy kills. Once Rain was back with the pilots, he spun around to start shooting anything that he could lock onto. Bart stole most of his kills when he released his weapons, showering the battlefield with a blanket of death that managed to blind almost everyone. Once the dust cleared, a red wave of missiles shot through the remnants of the dust cloud. "Barnette!" Rain yelled as he forced his machine to fly in front of her Dread. Barnette watched as the wave of death slowly inched her way. A flash of red caught her attention as the Infinite Justice appeared to block the shot.

"Rain!" Meia and Dita yelled.

The shield was once again being reinforced by the strange blue barrier to give him an extra reach on protection. A small power struggle took place for a few seconds, before a victor was chosen. The red beams tore through the shield, slashing through both arms of the red machine. His legs were destroyed at the knees, his arms destroyed at the shoulder, it head had a large hole up on the top right side, while his jet pack exploded on his back. The Justice had been beaten, and Rain's status was completely unknown as his vitals, mech signal, and radio signal were all cut off.

"Gascgone, grab Rain!" Meia yelled. Gascgone didn't need to be told as she picked up what remained of the Justice Mech, and began heading back towards the Nirvana. "Let's get out of here!" Meia ordered. The remaining Dread fighters were more then happy to do so as they blasted their way back to the ship.

(-)

Those that were friends with Rain and Jura stood before their sleeping forms. Jura had suffered from a mild concussion, a gash on her abdomen, and a small case of blood loss. Rain suffered from a broken arm, broken leg, a few cracked ribs, and a large gash across his chest, and possibly a damaged left eye that had a long cut across it. Meia stood beside Rain, looking down at him sadly. She bit her bottom lip after seeing him the way he was. She knew he would probably be okay, but he was still in a bad condition that would probably leave him incapable of piloting for sometime. Barnette was standing beside Jura, holding her hand in an attempt to comfort her.

"They'll be okay." Duerro stated as he placed his stethoscope around his neck. "They'll both come back to us after a few hours of rest. Just don't expect Rain to be combat ready for a few days." Meia nodded sadly as she looked down at him. Duerro sighed, knowing why she felt that way.

_She almost lost Rain like she lost Alex. It's no wonder why she's being this way. _Duerro thought.

"Jura, please come back to us." Barnette whispered. A loud crash got her attention quickly. Everyone turned to see Hibiki's fist in the wall. "Hibiki…" Barnette whispered.

"Damn it!" Hibiki cursed. "None of this would have happened if Gascgone had been there." Hibiki whispered.

"It wouldn't have mattered." Gascgone muttered. Hibiki looked at her in surprise that she heard him. "Yeah, I heard yea. And for the record, I work behind the scenes, not up front." She added.

"Yeah, you hang back because you want us to do all the dirty work!" Hibiki snapped back. Gascgone took a deep breath to calm herself down. "All you do is hang back and give us what we need when you can get to us! The rest of the time you spend doing what ever you want and telling us to smile when we die! You don't know what we've lost when we're out there!"

"You're right, I don't know what you've lost when you go out to fight them. But I'm not going to die. I'm going to keep on smiling and doing what ever I can to survive these fights; because that's how I work." Gascgone said with a smile. Hibiki snarled at her as she walked off with not a care in the world for anyone else.

"What the hell does she know?" Hibiki muttered. Hibiki's head was instantly thrown into wall, knocking him for a round as he crashed to the floor. Dita was instantly by his side, staring up at the culprit.

"What the hell do you know about losing a comrade?!" Barnette yelled. Hibiki stood up and glared at her. Barnette returned the glare. "You think she doesn't know what we lose every time we go out there and come back without a pilot or two? Do you have any idea on how immature you just sounded?!" Barnette snapped.

"No, but what I do know is that she doesn't seem to care! She doesn't care about how Rain or Jura is right now! She didn't once look at them with sad eyes like we have! She knows them, she's fought beside them, and Rain's even saved her a few times! So what the hell is the matter with her?!" Hibiki pointed to Jura.

"Hibiki, she already did do just that." Meia whispered. Hibiki cocked his head to look at her with a scowl on her face. "She already said that she was worried about them before you got in here. Barnette, Gascgone, and I were already in here before you arrived. I'll admit that she was probably more worried about Jura since she's known her more than Rain, but at least she still cared about his condition."

"She's lost more people than you'll ever know about." Barnette whispered. Hibiki turned to face Barnette with confusion written on his eyes. "She may not show it, but she, along with Magno, are the people that are the most affected by the death of a crew member. She knows more pain than anyone."

"Whatever." Hibiki muttered.

(-)

"The enemy is still following us." Misty stated. Magno nodded, understanding what she meant. "What are we going to do? The enemy is still after us, and we can't defeat them with our current fighting strength."

"We'll think of something. We always pull through these sorts of things. So don't worry too much." Magno stated. Misty didn't look very hopeful to her words. Magno knew that she didn't believe her, but she figured she had her reasons.

(-)

"Meia! Meia wait up!" Hibiki cried. Meia stopped and turned to face Hibiki. Hibiki stopped in front of her, gasping for air. Once he had his air back, he looked up at her with a confused expression. "What did you mean when you said that Gascgone has experienced more pain than anyone else?"

Meia closed her eyes and sighed. She bit her bottom lip knowing that this was something that Gascgone should talk about. When they all joined up, they made a pact to keep there secrets to themselves unless they wanted to talk about them. This was one of Gascgone's, so it was here tale to tell. But that look in Hibiki's eye told her that he wanted to know now.

"It happened before she joined up with us. What I heard is that she was part of a Rescue Squadron for one of our colonies that lost power. Her sister went into a dangerous area that had a breach to rescue a small child. From what happened afterwards, I'm not to certain. Gascgone and her sister managed to save the child just as the door that was holding the hole closed suddenly was torn off. Her sister managed to pass the small child to her, but just as she was about to reach out for her, the door shut and her sister was trapped on the other side by only a mere door only four inches thick." Meia explained.

"She lost her sister because of a four inch door?" Hibiki mussed. "I guess I should go tell her I'm sorry, shouldn't I?"

"Don't worry about right it now. The only thing we need to worry about is the enemy that's right behind us." Meia stated. Meia sighed as she walked off, wondering how they were going to pull a miracle off.

(-)

"The Justice will be down for some time." Parfait sighed. "I'm not sure I can get it up and running for the next encounter with them. Besides, Rain's out cold and in no condition to fight." Parfait stated.

"What about Jura's Dread?" Magno asked. Magno was talking to Parfait on screen in the Engineer Room.

"It took some minor damage, but thanks to the Pexis it took hardly any damage. We should be able get it up and running in a few hours, but we still need Jura to pilot it." Parfait replied.

"Understood." Magno sighed while flickering off screen.

(-) 

"Are you an idiot?" Maya snapped. Maya, Dale, Pyoro, and Hibiki were talking in the brig, Males Room, trying to come up with a plan to destroy the enemy Flag Ship. Maya was currently yelling at Pyoro for making a bad comment about Dale. Hibiki was staring at the three AI's with a brow raised. Pyoro was loosing his argument, but Dale wasn't talking too much anymore.

"Why are you calling me an idiot?" Pyoro wailed.

"Why do you care? You'll forget in about ten minutes anyway." Maya stated. "Now, let's get back to coming up with a plan to beat the hell out of that large enemy Flag Ship."

"Okay, what do we know about them so far?" Hibiki asked.

"They've got a Nirvana clone that can shoot multiple beams that mimic Bart's weapons." Maya began. Hibiki nodded. "They have an unknown amount of Egg Carriers that can spit out about twenty five Cube Types. It takes one hundred and twenty five Cube Types to make a single Vandread Clone. It is unknown as to how many Cube Types it takes to make a single Nirvana Clone. The enemy Flag Ship has one cannon that can strike down anything within a half of a kilometer of the blast radius."

"What about the enemy Flag Ship?" Hibiki questioned. "How thick do you think that armor is?"

"Idiot an you're?" Dale muttered. Hibiki shot him a dirty look. "Flag the Ships' thickness hull enemy's unknown is. Best know be explosive high use a hull powered would way to the to hole hull in with then analyze a the." Dale stammered. Hibiki shot him a look of pure confusion.

"Translation please." Hibiki ordered.

"He said, "You're an idiot" for his first sentence." Maya stated. Hibiki's eye started twitching at that. "His second sentence said, "The enemy's Flag Ships' hull thickness is unknown" moron." Hibiki really seemed to be getting angry, much to the amusement of Dale. "His last sentence was, "The best way to know would be to use a high powered explosive on the hull, and then analyze the hole", Hibiki." Maya answered.

"You," Hibiki pointed to Dale. "…are an asshole and need to shut up."

"You screw!" Dale shouted before flickering away.

"He said…"

"I know what he said!" Hibiki shouted. Maya shrugged her shoulders as she went back to looking at the screen on Pyoro's face. "We need to find some way to make a hole that big without getting to close to it. If we detonated something that large, we might not have enough time to get away from the blast."

"What if you punched through it?" Pyoro asked.

"That's a good idea." Maya said with a grin. Hibiki nodded in agreement. "All we have to do is hit it hard enough with Vandread Meia to punch a hole through that armor. The only real problem is that we don't know how thick it is. It could very well stand up to the attack of Vandread Meia without taking a single scratch."

"Don't worry." Hibiki stood up and started walking towards where he knew Meia would be. "We'll make it happen and come back alive."

(-)

Meia and Barnette were staring down at their two friends, both of which were still asleep. Meia was sitting on Rain's bed, wondering when he'd be able to wake up. With all the injuries he had, Duerro stated that he would have been dead had it not been for his advanced blood that he had. So the only thing she could do was, wait for him to wake up, and make sure that the ship got through the attack. Barnette was just staring down at Jura, wondering the same thing. She never figured she would be here looking down at her friend feeling so helpless.

The two women sighed. "This feels so strange." Barnette said with a sigh. Meia mumbled in agreement. "I can't believe that they pulled a new trick on us, and we weren't even able to make a scratch in it."

"Rain managed to hit it." Meia reminded.

"Yeah, but look at him." She motioned towards Rain with a wave of her hand. "Look at what it managed to do to him. If we had been more aware of what they could do, this wouldn't have happened."

"We have no idea what they're capable of, Barnette. We can't just expect them to tell us. But you are right; we should have expected something like this." Meia stated. Barnette looked down at Jura, knowing that Meia was right.

"Meia…" Hibiki whispered. Barnette and Meia turned to see a serious look on Hibiki's face as he entered the main room. "…I have an idea."

(-)

"So he's come up with another plan?" Magno questioned.

"Yes, but I'm not to certain about this one." BC commented. "There's to little data on the Flag Ships' hull to know if this will work. For all we know, they could actually wind up a greasy smear on the hull of it."

"Never the less, it's a plan. And since no one else has come up with one, we'll try to make this work." Magno stated firmly. "All Dread fighters, we're heading back into the combat zone."

(-)

"Hibiki, are you sure this plan will work?" Meia asked. Meia was running back to the hanger with Hibiki and Barnette beside her. "We don't know if our combination can punch through it. For all we know, we might end up a…"

"You want to protect Rain right?" Hibiki interrupted. Meia nodded. "No one else has come up with a plan. This is the only one we have that could work. All we need to do is hit it hard enough to do it. Our combination is the only one that can attain the speed necessary to punch through it."

"But still…" Barnette began.

"We can't just keep running from them." Hibiki interrupted her. "They'll eventually catch us. This is a lot better than running from death." He stated as he climbed into his machine. Meia stared at the remains of the Justice mech for a few seconds before climbing into her own machine. Barnette looked at Jura's machine that was waiting for its pilot.

_We can do this. _Meia thought.

(-)

"The Dread teams have launched." Celtic announced. Magno nodded. _This had better work._

(-)

A flash of light appeared on the battlefield again, this time forming Vandread Meia. A spiral of energy appeared around the combination as they began charging energy for the first strike. When it reached its peek, the combination vanished in a golden streak, punching a hole in eight Carriers. The Dread plowed down what remained of the Carriers as they tried to keep up. The combination left the small fry to the Dread teams as they continued their charge towards the Flag Ship.

"All Dread teams are to handle the Cube Types while we deal with our clones and that annoying Flag Ship." Meia ordered. A loud reply of "Rodger" followed her order. Meia growled as the large Nirvana clone came into view. _Rain…_

"Don't worry. We'll be fine." Hibiki whispered. Meia blinked while looking down at her co-pilot. "He'll be okay."

"I know that." She replied.

The combination went soaring through the enemy ranks with what some would say, Fanatic Zeal. The combination punched through anything that dared to get between them and the large monster before them. Barnette and Dita were keeping up with them, blasting anything that dared to get between them and the Flag Ship. Vandread Meia was up front, as usual, and punching holes in everything that dared to get in its way, while Barnette and Dita were on clean up duty, moping up the remaining fighters.

"Alright, here we go!" Hibiki yelled as the path suddenly cleared for them to strike the large beast. Once again they charged up for another ramming strike, but stopped when the Nirvana clone appeared in front of them. The combination ducked and dodged their way around the monstrosity while Barnette and Dita blasted its core with missiles. The large beast fell backwards, going silent yet again. "Now that that's out of the way, let's finish this!" Hibiki roared as they repeated the process.

"Here we go." Meia whispered. The combination darted towards the hull of the enemy Flag Ship, preparing to ram it. Once again, the Nirvana clone appeared, but this time it was able to land a hit that swatted them away. "Damn it."

"Meia!" Barnette yelled. She gritted her teeth as she began firing at the large beasts' core again. Rather than shoot at her, the clone managed to grab her, surprising her. "Oh no!" Barnette cried.

A wave of missiles plowed into the arm of the clone, releasing Barnette's Dread in the process. Barnette instantly flew away, assessing the damage done to her machine when her savior appeared out of the corner of her eye. "Miss Gascgone!" She cried.

"I'll show you, that even Behind the Stage people can pull their weight!" She cried as she fired off another volley of missiles. The large clone reared back before stabbing her Delivery Craft with its large claw like hands. Gascgone heard her name being yelled as she pushed forward on her throttle to send the large monster into the Flag Ship. Gascgone smiled as the clone and her delivery craft crashed into the ship, resulting in a large explosion that tore a large hole in the enemy Flag Ship.

_Miss Gascgone…_

A/N

So that's that. I noticed something rather funny. After the last two chapters, I had a lot of hits to Chapter seven back on Wings of Freedom, the first fic. I guess a few of you wondered about him. As always, Read and Review.


	10. Finding Hope

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 10 Finding Hope

"I'll show you, that even Behind the Scenes people can pull their weight!" Gascgone cried as she fired off another volley of missiles. The large clone reared back before stabbing her Delivery Craft with its large claw like hands. Gascgone heard her name being yelled as she pushed forward on her throttle to send the large monster into the Flag Ship. Gascgone smiled as the clone and her delivery craft crashed into the ship, resulting in a large explosion that tore a large hole in the enemy Flag Ship.

_Miss Gascgone…_

Everyone watched with sad eyes as her Delivery Craft vanished off their radars. No one could say anything. No one wanted to do anything. No one could do anything anyway. The only thing they could do was sit back and watch the large clone reappear. Some of the Dread pilots quickly began retreating without even being told to. For the others, they quickly began trying to fight back.

"MISS GASCGONE!" Barnette yelled. The clone reappeared, its eye shinning brightly as it looked at Barnette's damaged Dread. Barnette growled at the large clone slowly stood up on the hull of the Flag Ship.

"BASTARD!" Hibiki roared as he disassembled the combination to attack the Nirvana fake on his own. Meia gasped at his sudden move, and quickly got out of his way to make sure he had a straight shot at the large monster. Hibiki's golden mech spun to regain its bearings before charging towards the large fake with his sword.

"Stop!" Barnette shouted as she appeared in front of him to stop him from progressing any further. "We need to head back and regroup before charging in blindly! We need to think a head of these things!"

"Those aren't your words!" Hibiki snapped. Realization hit the two pilots like a brick as they knew who would have actually said those words. Barnette's Dread began taking serious damage as she waited for him to leave the battle zone. Hibiki, realizing that she was in trouble and not about to let him pass, left the battle zone with Meia beside him.

(-)

Bart stared at where the large explosion took place. He knew what had just happened. He knew because everyone on the bridge began calling out for her. He could have sworn he even heard the Pexis cry out for her. He growled again, knowing that the enemy was about to come and hit him because the pilots were returning.

"Damn it all." Bart whispered. A small zip got his attention before his whole arm felt like it was being burned. Bart screamed in pain before the ship suddenly did a U turn, heading straight for an electric nebula.

"_Bart, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" _BC yelled. Bart felt intense pain before blacking out.

A swirl of energy on the bridge had everyone gasping at Bart's bad timing. When the energy faded away, everyone saw an unconscious Bart lying near the Navigation Chamber entrance.

"Bart!" BC yelled as she ran to him. She quickly checked him. His arm was covered with large burn marks. "He's out cold!" Magno gritted her teeth. "I'll take him to the Infirmary!" BC stated as she lift Bart over her shoulder.

"Captain…" Meia's face appeared on screen. "All Dread units are back in the hanger. We're waiting for further orders."

"Just rest for now. We need to come up with another plan of attack before we head back out there." Mango stated. Meia nodded.

"Captain… I'm sorry about…"

"Don't worry about it right now." Magno interrupted her. Magno's eyes landed on the damaged Flag Ship. "She did a lot of good things in her life. But what Gascgone left behind was a big gapping hole in their Flag Ship. We'll take that thing out for her now." Meia nodded as she closed the screen.

(-)

Meia smashed her fist into the controls for her Dread. "Damn it! I thought I was strong enough for this to never happen…" She whispered.

(-)

"What happened?" Duerro asked as he began looking at the burn marks on the newly awakened Bart.

"I don't know really." Bart stammered. He still sounded a little bit sleepy. "I'm not to sure myself, but I remember that Gascgone's ship went down, and then there was a lot of yelling. Then I felt a slight tingle in my arm, and then I blacked out." Bart answered.

Duerro gave a low "Hm" as he finished bandaging up his arm. Bart made a fist to get a feel for his bandages. Duerro placed Bart's knife into a small slot on his computer, bringing up a mountain of data on him. It was Bart's personal medical file, and Duerro was now really concerned. His eyes landed on Hibiki's data chip, the same necklace he always wore. _How strange…_

(-)

"It's just as I feared." Magno whispered. BC nodded. "The Crew's moral has gone down with her death. They looked up to her, and now they have hardly anyone to look up that was like her. There were too few women like her, and that was why I picked her in the first place."

"True, but we have to motivate them to fight again." BC reminded. Magno winced slightly, looking back at the large beast that was now tailing them. "We need to take that thing out so we can continue our journey home. If we can kill it, then we'll have one less Flag Ship to deal with when we get home."

"I don't think we can motivate them to fight again." Magno whispered.

(-)

Barnette stared down at Jura, uncertain of what to do. She was lost, but more so in the fact that she now had to calm herself down, and not have Gascgone remind her. It was strange to not have her looking over her shoulder to tell her she was doing wrong, but she knew that some things needed to be done for a reason. Without Jura, she felt as though she had lost everything. She need someone like her to tell her she did something funny or boss her around like she did. She was all alone at the moment. She did have Gascgone's words to cheer her up or tell her to calm down. She didn't have Jura to laugh for, to make food for, or to make happy. She didn't have her Ouma to correct her. She didn't have her Fahma to scold her. She did have her sisters to nag at her over the small stuff. She was alone and it felt bad knowing she was that way. She just lowered her head as she tried not to cry. Something soft caressed her face slightly, causing her to look up. Jura's hand was against her face, and Jura was awake, smiling up at her.

"Jura!" She wailed.

"What's wrong my Darling Barnette?" Jura whispered. Barnette sniffed a bit. "Come on Barnette, don't cry. That's not you and you know that." She whispered. Barnette smiled slightly as she realized she was right. "That's better. That's the Barnette I know and love."

(-)

Hibiki just stared at them. He wondered about turning them over for a few seconds. He didn't want to, but a piece of him had to know. He and Gascgone's last moments of happiness were before the Flag Ship appeared, and they were playing cards. Hibiki knew he probably couldn't win, but he loved to try and beat her. It was her way of showing she cared in his eyes. Only this time, she wouldn't have any kind words for when he lost. She had always tried to help him in playing, but he never listened. Sighing, he looked behind the table to see something strange.

"Smile. Smile." It was a little puppet. Dita appeared a few seconds later with a small smile on her face.

"What the hell is the matter with you?!" Hibiki snapped. Dita's expression turned sad at his yelled of confusion and anger.

"I… I've always been this way." She admitted. Hibiki calmed down considerably at that. "Ever since I was little I've always been this way. When our colony ran out of power, everyone became so sad and worried, but I was too young to understand why. Every time I tried to make them happy, I ended up doing something wrong, and they would laugh at it. So I guess I just got used to being the one to try and cheer people up when they get sad."

The door hissed open. Hibiki bit his bottom lip. He didn't need to turn around to see who it was. Dita's expression was enough to tell him who was. But as to why she was here he wouldn't know.

"Why?" Barnette questioned. Hibiki slowly turned around with a sad expression. "Why couldn't you save her?" She asked.

"Are you saying this is my fault?" Hibiki snapped. Dita clutched the tiny puppet as Hibiki's tone turned back to a hateful one.

"Why not; you always talk tough and say you can protect everyone. But where were you when Gascgone needed you?!" Barnette questioned.

"Please stop…" Dita whispered.

"Me, what about you?! Rain wouldn't be in his current condition if you had been paying attention!" Hibiki snapped.

"We wouldn't be in this mess if you had protected Jura better!" She yelled back. Hibiki gritted his teeth as he continued to glare at her. A long period of silence passed through the dark room. Hibiki knew that she was right. If he had moved the combination faster or to left a little more, Jura would have been okay, and Barnette wouldn't have been in danger from the Nirvana clone. Rain would still be with them as well.

A loud buzzing noise filled the room. Hibiki turned to face the small clock that Gascgone had started using when he took too long to make his move. It just kept ringing and the three just kept staring at it. They knew that they were all to blame, but they still felt as though it was more their fault than their own.

Hibiki slowly picked up the item to stop it from blaring. He stared at it for a few minutes before placing it back on the table. "Get everyone down here." He whispered. Barnette looked at him with a strange expression. "It's time for a tactical meeting."

(-)

"Why's everyone here?" Meia questioned. The Registry Room was packed full of pilots, important crew members, and the Bridge Bunnies. Everyone seemed kind of worried at the moment, but considering that Hibiki had another idea brought a few smiles to everyone.

"We're going to attack them one more time." Hibiki stated.

"Why?" Barnette questioned. "The last time we tried anything on that large thing, we lost Gascgone. What are we going to do this time?"

"We're going to give it a virus." Misty said with a grin as she showed everyone the message device that had the Pexis Virus. "All you have to do is hook this up to its power core to deliver the virus."

"But who's going to go hook it up? We would be a sitting target when we get in there." Barnette stated.

"Easy, the only person that's actually to small for them to see." Hibiki said with a grin. Everyone blinked in surprise before smiling. Everyone's eyes landed on the floating Navy Bot that currently had Kahlua roped to its back. "Pyoro will be delivering the virus to the enemy Flag Ships' power core."

Pyoro was about to run/float away when he heard those words. Ezra quickly snatched up her baby, while Meia grabbed Pyoro before he would escape. Pyoro continued to try to get away, much to Hibiki and Meia's displeasure. Hibiki smiled a he snatched up Pyoro from Meia. "Pyoro, wouldn't you like to be able to tell Kahlua…" Meia began.

"IT'S PYORO-2!" He wailed.

"…that you helped save her from the enemy Flag Ship?" Meia continued as though she had never been interrupted. Pyoro stopped and started thinking about that. He never figured on being a hero. "I see you like this idea." Pyoro nodded. "Okay then, now we only have one problem."

"Don't worry. I think I have an answer to that problem." Parfait stated. "I've been waiting to test out a new weapon I made a few months ago. It's like the EMP missiles from that planet you went to, but this one will only infect the enemy's ships. As to how long it'll last, I'm not to sure. But it should work for a few seconds that I'm certain of."

"Can you place it on my Dread?" Barnette questioned. Parfait nodded. "Okay then, let's go."

(-)

The Dread teams launched one more time. The plan was simple, the main Dread teams would stay back and deal with the main forces, while Dita, Vandread Meia, and Barnette would head through the large hole in ship towards the ship power core. Barnette would disable the enemy fighters with her EMP cannons. For those on the bridge, they had been told to hang back, and help the fighters.

"The Pexis is back within working parameters again." Celtic announced. Bart let out a large cry of joy as he jumped into the Navigation Chamber to help out the Dread Fighters. "Looks like he's ready to fight for once."

(-)

The Dread teams waited for Barnette's to fire the EMP cannon's. The enemy fighters continued to fire as they progressed through their ranks. A few of the Dread pilots blasted forward to send a salvo of missiles towards them, temporarily stopping them. A few seconds later, two purple energy blasts shot out from Barnette's Dread, spinning between enemy units before crashing together. The enemy units all went silent as the Dread teams flew through them as fast as they could.

"Parfait, your toy works perfectly." Barnette stated with an evil smirk. She could hear Parfait cheering after hearing those words. Barnette just grinned as she continued to fly through the mass of deactivated units. For those that were staying back, the downed units became target practice. The large Nirvana clone reappeared in front of the hole, attempting to block them from entering. Meia went underneath it, diving through its legs. Dita zipped around its head, blasting it in its eye to temporally blind it. Barnette released her EMP Cannon's just in time to make them crash into its red core, sending it crashing into the hole as she zipped in just before it landed.

Once the team was inside, laser blasts filled the large tunnel. The team started dodging all the laser beams by doing barrel rolls, much to Pyoro's displeasure. Pyoro's cries for them stop spinning filled all the com channels, much to the amusement of Bart. Barnette went up front to launch a wave of missiles into the turrets. No matter how many she destroyed, there were still millions more for them to count.

"This is getting too dangerous!" Pyoro wailed.

"It's not like we can turn around, Pyoro." Hibiki chimed. Meia smiled as the little robot continued to yell for them to stop. Hibiki just gritted his teeth as the laser turrets continued to grow in numbers.

"Damn it!" Barnette cursed. "I've been hit! I'll catch up with you as soon as I can! Don't worry about me!" Barnette's Dread slowly began to fade away from view.

The remaining two members of the team pushed forward, dodging the enemy fire with ease. The team soon came to the end of the tunnel, opening up to a large circler chamber filled with what looked like never cells connectors.

"This is the place." Meia stated. She placed a hand on Hibiki's shoulder. "I'll leave the rest to you." Hibiki nodded as a flash of light covered the room before fading to form Vandread Dita. "You two hang back and cover Pyoro while I deal with the Cube Types." Meia told them.

"No problem." Hibiki said.

"You had better protect me!" Pyoro wailed. Hibiki just smirked as he flew the combination in front of Pyoro to make sure nothing got in front of him. Once Pyoro was sure they were going to be protecting him to their fullest, he started looking for the wires that were under the fleshy exterior.

Barnette's Dread finally arrived, blasting two Cubes as she entered into battlefield. Barnette blasted a few more Cubes while saying, "Sorry for being so late everyone," as she fired off another barrage of missiles. The missiles hit their attended targets, some even managed to take down two units that were to close to each other.

A Vandread Meia clone appeared in front of Vandread Dita, which promptly kicked it in the face before turning it into scrap metal with two tubes of energy. "Damn it Pyoro, what's taking you so long?" Hibiki questioned. Another Vandread Meia clone appeared, but was quickly shot down by Vandread Dita.

"Noisy human, just you wait." Pyoro muttered.

"Damn it Pyoro, hurry it up! We can't hold them off forever you know!" Barnette yelled out as her Dread took another small hit.

"I'm working as fast as I can! Pyoro." The little robot wailed.

A loud crash got everyone's attention as the Nirvana clone came tumbling into the chamber, via a hole it created. Man, that thing really didn't care for others now did it? The large beast landed on one of the Nerve like things, glaring at the opposition bellow it. The team figured it had enough sense to not shot anything too deadly in the room, but they were wrong. It quickly began charging up for a blast. Everyone gritted their death at the thought of having to dodge something that big and destructive in such a small area. They knew they could do it, but they really didn't want to considering that there were still too many Cube Types and a Dita clone. As the thing began to finish gathering the energy needed, a large explosion took place, momentarly stunning the big monster. Everyone turned to see the culprit as Jura's Dread, flying to meet its fellow fighters.

"Jura!" Barnette cried.

"Don't worry about me." Jura's face appeared on screen. She had a bandage wrapped around her head and a smile on her face. "Let's just worry about protecting Pyoro for the time being." She suggested. The others nodded as the large clone fired off red threads that hit everything but the enemy. Large pieces of the wall began caving in from the blast where it struck. Vandread Dita was forced to knock away a few large pieces of debris while the three Dread units began trying to take out the large clone.

"Hibiki, target the thing its standing on!" Meia ordered. The combination quickly did so, firing its two cannons at the base of its feet. The clone flew backwards after loosing its footing, crashing into the floor beneath them in a fiery explosion.

"Hey Pyoro, you better hurry up or we'll have killed everything before you even get a chance to launch the virus." Hibiki joked. Hibiki could hear Pyoro mutter a few curses, obviously something he picked up from Maya or Dale as he announced he had launched the virus.

"Is it working?" Barnette questioned.

"_The enemy units are shutting down." _Amarone replied. _"The virus worked! Pyoro you did it!" _A bunch of loud squeals soon came over the radio, giving the infiltration team, a much needed relief.

"Oh right everyone, let's head home." Meia ordered with a sigh. The team nodded and began head to pick up Pyoro.

"You had better not leave me behind! Or you'll be very sorry!" The little robot yelled.

"What a loud mouth." Hibiki whispered. Dita just smiled as they floated over to the small robot to pick him up. Hibiki saw a flash of red out of the corner of his. He didn't have enough time to yell at the team to evade it, nor did anyone else. The only thing he could do was swat Barnette's Dread away so he would take the damage instead of her.

Barnette went wide eyed at the sight before her. Jura's Dread was missing everything up front, her cockpit hatch was cracked, and she could see large blood driblets floating beside her. Meia's Dread was missing its left wing, her hatch was cracked and slowly getting worse, while blood driblets could be seen floating beside her body. Vandread Dita was in the worse shape. Its left arm had been shot off, its left leg had been shot off. Its right arm which held its cannon at the moment was cracked and the cannon was missing its spike part. The hatch was cracked badly and looked like it was about to give at any moment. Though Barnette couldn't see inside it, she figured that the same image was inside their cockpit.

"Barnette… get… out of… here…" Hibiki gasped.

"NO! I CAN'T JUST LEAVE YOU BEHIND!" She yelled back.

"Don't… worry about… us…" Meia gasped. "Just please… get out… of here…"

"So this is how it ends? What a bummer." Jura mumbled.

The large clone reappeared from the depths of the debris, its body showing no signs of injuries. Its red core once again began to glow bright red, this time, aiming to leave no trace of them alive. With a final surge, it sent a red ball straight at the Dread team.

"GET OUT OF HERE YOU IDIOT!" Hibiki yelled. The ball hit. The Pexis altered Dread's had been beaten. Vandread Dita had been destroyed. Nothing but a big ball of fire remained. Barnette just watched helplessly as her friends, comrades, people she considered a second family slipped away. She slowly started to cry as the reality of the moment slipped into her mind.

_Please no…_

As if hearing prayers, or those of another, tiny white lights were soon being emitted from the burning ruble inside the fire nova. Barnette watched with stunned eyes as a humanoid shaped creature appeared from within the fire ball. The fire was slowly sucked into the bright light that was soon being emitted through out the room. The Nirvana clone even seemed to shield itself from the light. Once the light faded away, a new mech appeared on the battlefield. Barnette just stared at it, wondering if her prayers had been answered.

_It can't be. _

The new arrival crossed its arms as it slowly began to awake from its slumber. When it finally seemed to be awake, its yellow eyes latched to the clone off in the distance.

"This is… incredible." Barnette gasped.

(-)

"I don't believe it… did all the Dreads combine into one?!" BC gasped. The bridge was just as stunned by the new development as the enemy was. They had no idea that such a feat was possible. But then again, they were working with a ship that was totally out of this world, and had a power source that was just the same as the ship.

"It sure is impressive." Misty stated.

(-)

Inside the combination, Jura was sitting in front of a large control panel with not a scratch on her delicate body. She was sitting at her station, completely confused at all the buttons she had. Dita was sitting in Hibiki's lap like she always did in her combination and figured that they still controlled the all over action of the ship since anything they seemed to do when they got in it, did it. Meia was sitting behind them with her back turned to them, staring down at her controls. She had no idea on what to do, but they seemed to make the mech move when she pushed on the peddle below her, making it pretty clear that she controlled the all over speed of the mech.

"Huh, where am I?" Pyoro inquired. His egg shaped eyes scanned the room for a few seconds before realization hit him. "I'M IN THE CENTER!" He cried.

The Nirvana clone, finally coming from its shock, decided to open fire on them. It began charging up for an attack as the team too came from their shock. Once again, the battlefield was lit up with the clones' red threads.

"Jura do something!" Hibiki yelled.

"There's too many buttons!" She cried as he slammed her hands down on the control panel. The eyes of the white mech shinned brightly as it waved its hands around, pulling out seven odd little disks before placing a large circler shield in front of them. The team was slightly amazed that it blocked the entire shot, leaving even the large monster stunned at its power. The surprises didn't stop as Dita somehow managed to pull a sword from the hand of the white machine, stunning everyone that watched. Meia instantly took her chance as she pushed down on the peddles; sending them sorrowing towards the clone as it charged up for another attack. The new machine wasn't about to let that happen, nor were the pilots as Meia pushed harder on the peddles; sending them even faster. Hibiki and Dita pulled the sword above their heads, before they seemed to zip to the other side of the beast, somehow managing to slice the monster in two before it could fire.

(-)

The crew on the bridge sat in their chairs, completely stunned at the power of the new machine. It was a sight for sore eyes as they came, flying out of the large hole the clone had made with Barnette's Dread following them all the way.

"They did it!" Misty cried. The crew on the bridge all jumped for joy, say for Bart and Magno of course, as the new machine disassembled to enter into the hanger.

BC walked over to Magno with a look that she knew she did want to see. Magno looked down at the control panel at her station as she said, "I'll leave you in charge of everything, BC," before her chair lifted her up into the room above her. BC nodded sadly, along with everyone on the bridge.

"Why is she so sad?" Misty questioned. Everyone almost blinked in confusion. "I mean, why is she sad over her death? She seems worse than what I would have thought she would be."

"Magno has always been like a Grandmother to all of us, and Gascgone was like a sister to her." Ezra answered. "The two have them have been close for a long time that their bond was stronger than what ours was to hers. They truly believed they were like sisters."

Misty looked down at the floor as she said, "I see."

(-)

"So, how is he?" Meia questioned. Duerro smiled as she leaned over onto Rain's bed, moving a strand of his hair out of his face. Despite the way he acted all the time, when he slept, he really did look like a kid that could do no harm.

"He'll be okay now. He just needs some rest." Duerro answered. Meia nodded as she yawned. He smiled sheepishly as she walked out of the room. "I guess we all need some rest after that battle, don't we?" Meia nodded as she walked off to her quarters.

The door hissed open again as Barnette and Jura walked into the room. Duerro sighed, knowing why Jura was in the room. He slowly pulled out a syringe and filled with Morphine. Jura sighed as she pulled up her sleeve to allow him to give her the shot. Her eyes landed on Rain for the second time that day. She knew why he was in the Infirmary after Barnette told her what he did, but as to why he did it, she didn't know. By the time she pushed the thought from her mind, Duerro was finished giving her, her drugs so she could sleep without having to worry about any pain.

Barnette stayed behind, staring down at his sleeping form. She truly didn't know what to think of him. Sure he was a little hot headed during battles, when they would argue over stupid stuff, but this time, he looked so peaceful. Duerro sighed, knowing that she would probably stay with him to just stare at him. He grinned slightly at a thought of why Barnette felt that way as he left the room.

"Thank you, Rain." Barnette whispered. She smiled sadly at him as she turned to leave.

"Smells nice…" Barnette stopped as she turned to see Rain's head moving over in her direction. He was still out could, yet his senses seemed to still work. "…must be Barnette." He mumbled. Barnette went wide eyed at that. She just stared at him for a number of seconds before smiling.

_He cares about me…_

(-)

Meia and Jura were in the Pexis chamber, looking over at the large crystal from the bridge that overlooked it. Meia had her back against the railing as she always did. Jura was leaning over the railing, just staring at it.

"It answered our calls." Meia finally spoke. Jura turned to her in confusion. "We all wanted to live so badly that it answered our calls for help. It knew we needed it and was just waiting for us to admit it."

"I don't care if you say it did, all I care about is that we're alive and that we get to see another day." Jura replied as she mimicked her. "So what now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what are we going to do about Rain? He obviously doesn't have a machine right now that he can pilot. You think he can pilot a Van-type?"

"I'd rather not push him right now. Besides, Parfait could have the Justice repaired before he wakes up." Meia admitted.

"You care for him, don't you?" Meia bit her bottom lip as Jura continued. "He's different from Alex, yet he seems to be the same in a few ways. Barnette told me that he blocked the shot that was meant to kill her. I asked her about it when she was helping me get back to the Infirmary for some more medicine."

"But he's a little younger than he was." Meia stated.

"But he's as strong as him. He's probably even faster than what Alex was. We know he's not as smart, and he doesn't play Chess. He loves riddles and has fun cooking." Jura said with a smile.

"Cooking was something Alex didn't like doing." Meia laughed.

"So what's the deal with you two? I know you care for him, by why that much? You seem to be… getting as close to him as you did with Alex. Why?" Jura leaned back over the railing as she stared at the blue ball of light.

"When we had that incident with him, before he passed out, he called me, Meia-nee-chan, meaning he viewed me as his sister." Jura blinked as she turned to face her. "Zoey told me that if Alex had made it back to the colony with us, he would have asked me to marry him. I never figured that Rain would still want to view me as a sibling though."

"So that's why you're always around him. I was wondering why you were, but I never could place it as to why you would." Jura exclaimed. Meia just smiled slightly as she leaned over the railing. "Do you know how long he'll be out for?"

"Not sure, but before we went out on the second attack, Gascgone told me that he has a habit of bouncing back from anything. She is the one that hit him with a steel pipe, remember?" Jura just chuckled as she turned to leave. "Hey," Jura stopped to look over her shoulder. "If you tell anyone what I just told you about us, I'll kill you."

"Picking up bad habits from Dale and Rain now are we?" Meia just chuckled as she turned to follow her. "But then again, I sort of like this new Meia." Meia playfully pushed Jura.

(-)

Barnette stood before Magno with Gascgone's old little chest. She knew it meant something to her, and figured that Magno would be able to keep it safe. Magno sighed, knowing why she was doing it, but figured it was for the best.

(-)

"How are things looking now?" BC asked Ezra.

"Things are looking pretty…"

"Captain, I'll be rewriting most of the systems in the main frame, so the computers are going to be down for one hour." Barnette interrupted her as her face appeared screen. BC stared at the new look Barnette had. Her flower that she always wore in her hair was gone. She seemed more bossy than usual. Her flight suit had been replaced with a pair of dark pants, a yellow shirt with a blue and black open vest over it.

BC opened her mouth to protest, but Barnette's image vanished before she could do so. BC smiled as she turned to face Magno. "It looks like she setting up shop." Magno nodded with a smile. "I think selecting her was the right choice."

"I didn't select her. She just wanted to make Gascgone prod. So I gave it to her since she came to me willingly." Magno admitted. BC nodded as she looked back towards the stars.

_We do have a bright future ahead of us._


	11. To live Hand in Hand

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 11 To live hand in hand

Rain moaned lightly as consciousness slowly came back to him. The first thing he noticed was that he was lying in the Infirmary. White sheets and a white nightgown solidified the thought of where he was. He groaned as a large headache suddenly hit him. He really didn't care about how he got it, he figured it had something to do when his machine was attacked. He moaned as got out of bed. He figured Meia would have a heart attack when Duerro told her he vanished. He groaned again as he left the room, heading for the one place he knew he'd be safe.

_It's good to be back in the Engineer Room. Now I can fix you Dale. I just hope you're still sleeping like the big idiot you are._ Rain thought with a smile. He slowly brought Dale's systems online, moaning as he saw that someone had turned his speech unit off. _Probably Parfait. She's the only one that knows how to do that since I showed her how to do it after he saw her naked in the shower. Man, that idiot must have picked up some bad habits from Uncle Raider. _Rain thought as he turned the speech unit back on. The system once again kicked on, causing Rain to grown as he pulled out the small chip that Spark had given him. Rain sighed as he placed the chip in again. _Okay, lets see what that does._

"Dale, you up?" Rain asked. Dale appeared with a scowl on his face. "I assume I woke you from your beauty rest?"

Dale laughed as he glared at the young pilot. "Hate I you!" He growled.

"That's all about to change. I think I figured out what was wrong with you." Dale stared blankly at him. Rain just smirked as he pulled the chip out and put it back in, but this time put it upside down. "When I was out cold for God knows how long…"

"Weeks two." Dale muttered.

"…and I started thinking, what if that idiot, Spark, gave me the chip upside down. So, we are about to find out." Rain started punching keys at blinding speed. Dale went wide eyed as he found himself suddenly unable to speak again. Rain smirked as he realized that Dale was glaring at him. As soon as Rain started, he quickly finished and was smiling at the screen. Dale was still glaring at him. "How do you feel now?"

"Like killing you." He seethed. Rain smiled as the little AI blinked in surprise. Rain continued to smile as the AI looked around the room a few times before saying, "You did it. You ixed me!" Rain frowned at the missing letter. This was obviously something he wasn't expecting. "What the hell did you do to me?! I can't believe you screwed me up again!"

"Dale, say… France." Rain joked.

"Rance." Dale stopped and glared at Rain while giving him the finger.

"Dale, say… the F-bomb." Rain started laughing like crazy.

"I ucking hate you!" He shouted while flickering away.

Rain crashed to the floor from laughing so hard. Rain couldn't help it. It was just too funny listening to him now butcher any word that had an F in it. It was just too much for him to take.

(-)

"What do you mean he just disappeared?" Duerro winced under Meia's piercing glare. He figured that she was pretty mad and was just hiding it very well.

"Like I said, I went out to get something to eat, and when I came back he was gone." Duerro sighed. Meia glared at him for a number of seconds before Dale appeared with a smile on his face.

"What do you want?" Meia seethed.

"What guess." Dale stated. Meia snorted at the little black AI. The AI just smiled as he continued to look death right in the face. "Rain ixed me, well sort o anyway." He said with a sigh.

"You can't use the letter F though." Duerro pointed out. Dale flipped him the finger while Duerro continued. "So is Rain in the Engineer Room?" Dale nodded as he continued to give him the finger. "Found him." Duerro turned to look at Meia, but found her already gone. "That was fast."

(-)

"So you managed to fix him?" Maya asked. Rain smiled as he leaned back in his chair. Maya had gone back to the Infirmary to check up on Rain, but when she found him missing, she quickly went to one of the only places he would probably be after waking up. Sure enough, he was still in the Engineer Room, and finishing up with Dale's programming.

"I actually fixed his speaking, but unfortunately it killed his ability to use the letter F. So I have to go back into his systems to put every letter F in every kind of language he knows." Rain stated with a grin.

"You do realize that he knows about one thousand different languages, right?" Maya asked as she watched him stand up and stretch. Rain sighed, knowing she was right, but he wasn't going to mess it right now. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I've been asleep for nearly two weeks, what do you think?" Rain walked out of the room with a grin on his face.

"For the record, the Male showers are out!" Maya yelled before he left the room. She could hear Rain laughing slightly before the door closed. "I guess I better go let Meia know he's okay." She mussed before flickering away.

(-)

"There you are." Meia said sweetly. Rain stopped and spun around to see Meia smiling at him. Rain's danger instincts began screaming at him. He fought the will to run away from Meia. He had last count on all the times he had been in trouble and Zoey or Asaugi would put on that fake smile just to get close to him. "Do you have any idea on how worried you had me?" Yeah, he knew he was in trouble.

"Meia, please don't yell at me until I can get a shower." Rain begged. Meia just smiled as she continued to walk towards him. He knew he was in trouble, and Meia was probably about to get his ass chewed out for running way.

"Rain, please tell me why you left before Duerro could check you over?" Rain winced at the fake sounding happy tone she was using at the moment, but he figured he deserved what was coming. "Did you know that you could very well be blind in your left eye?! If you haven't noticed, you have a long scar across it and Duerro was worried that you could be blind in it!"

"But I'm fine. My body's built a lot different from yours. I don't mean that in a bad way, but I think you know what I mean." Rain wiggled his ears and tail, calming Meia down slightly. "Listen, I understand that you're mad at me for leaving, but I had an idea about fixing Dale, and it worked… well almost anyways." He grumbled.

"Okay, but just don't ever pull a stunt like that again. You really had me worried." She told him with a smile. Rain smiled back as he walked past her, heading straight for his room. "You know that the male showers are out, right?" Rain waved at her as he continued walking.

Meia sighed as she followed him. "Doesn't matter, I have to go to my room to get my clothes anyways. Besides, I'm sure you wouldn't mind letting me use the Female Showers, that way I don't stink up the place." Meia thought about that before sighing.

"You promise to make it quick?" She asked. Rain raised a brow before nodding. "I guess. I need a shower to. I just got back from working out in the training room." Rain smiled as she followed him to his room to grab his stuff.

(-)

"This feels great." Rain said with a large smile on his face. The Female Showers were actually a large Bathhouse that Rain was finding rather fun at the moment. Meia was a little surprised that Rain was happy to see something like this. "I forgot how good these were." Rain added.

"I'm glad you enjoy it." Meia said from the other side. The two were separated by a large cloud of steam, much to Meia's, liking. Rain however, didn't truly care. "So, will your mother or sister kill me for returning you with a scar?"

"No, you'll be okay. Zoey-nee-chan will probably yell at you and threaten you a few times, but she won't hurt you. Okaa-san will probably threaten you so bad you'll start sleeping with your eyes open, but she won't do anything like hurting you." He replied.

"So I'm in the clear?"

"Yep." Rain replied with a large grin.

"That's good to hear. I don't want to have to worry about them trying to kill me because I returned you with a scar." She laughed. Rain started laughing to as he had a mental image of Meia being chased after by Zoey and Asaugi. "I do have one question." Rain's ears perked up as he started listening to everything she said. "Why did you do it? Why did you move in front of the attack to defend Barnette?"

"I don't know, I just knew that I would feel like crap if she died." He admitted. Meia closed her eyes as she tried to picture his expression. "Why are you so curious?"

"I just wanted to know why you did it, that's all." She defended. Rain scrunched up his nose at her reason. He knew she was lying, but he didn't feel like trying to figure out why. "So, what do you have planned for the rest of the day?"

"I figured as soon as I was through taking my bath, I'd go to the kitchen and make something to eat. Then I'd go work on my homework, and then try to find something to do afterwards." He paused. "Why? You got something planned today?"

"No, I just wanted to know what you were doing." She answered with a sly grin, though hidden by the thick steam.

"Whatever." Rain muttered as he got out of the water to get dressed. "You want something to eat? I was going to go make some Dango as a snack. You want some?"

"I've never had that. Is it good?" She asked while getting out.

"I'll make you some." Rain laughed.

(-)

Meia's light giggling filled the kitchen as she continued to watch the very funny thing before her. It wasn't often she got a chance to see something like this, and it was still funny as hell. Rain could hear her, and was smiling like a mad man as he continued to search for ingredients for his favorite snack in the universe. Meia continued to giggle as he found what he was looking for. Rain was bent over and the only thing she could see was his tail waving back and forth. The only way she knew he had found something he was looking for, was that his tail would speed up, much to her amusement.

"I know what you're thinking, and I'm telling you now, it isn't very funny." Rain warned.

"But you look so…"

"Don't you dare say it!" Rain yelled as he came back up with some Rice Flour and a few ingredients that Meia couldn't read. "So, what do you like?" Rain asked as he pulled out some Beef Ground in powder form. Meia blinked as she looked at some of the ingredients. "You want me to just make a batch of what I like?" Meia nodded as she watched him go to work.

"What are you two doing in here?" Barnette asked as she walked in wearing an apron. She took one look at Rain, then one at Meia, and then back to Rain. "Rain, is that you?" She questioned. Rain looked down at himself with a curious expression. "Where's your uniform?" Rain placed a mixing bowl on the counter as he walked over to her with a sideways expression. "You just look a bit different."

Rain smiled as he looked down at himself again. His SWAT uniform was gone, and was replaced with a sleeveless ghost white trench coat. He wore dark red pants with black flames coming up the left leg. Since his arms were visible, say for the fishnet long sleeve shirt he wore, Barnette was able to see the FireFox insignia on his right shoulder. His coat was open, showing a sand colored muscle shirt that had red wolf head in the center of it, howling at the moon. On the back of his coat was a pair of grey spheres that looked like eyes. His tail was sticking through the back of his trench coat from the split in the back, and waving back and forth happily.

"Sorry, but my old cloths were getting pretty worn out and I figured I could us a new look since you all seem to accept me for who I am." Rain said with a shrug. Barnette smiled at that while looking at his ingredients for whatever he was making. "I'm making Dango's, you want some?" Barnette blinked a few times before shaking her head.

"No, I came down here to make a cake to celebrate our new victory." She said with a grin. Rain smiled as he pulled out his small book.

"Here." He tossed her the book. "I'm not sure what recipes you know on cakes, but if you go to page a hundred and twelve, it has some good ones." Barnette started flipping through the pages of the book while Rain went back to making his treat.

"I never would have thought you to be a cook until I saw you fight while reading this book." Barnette stated as she sat down on one of the chairs to read the book. "How did you learn how to do that? I've never seen anyone that good."

"Uncle Raider taught me that trick." Rain answered as he started mixing his ingredients.

"Raider, you mean Raider Katon, the pirate?" Meia asked. Rain nodded as he continued to add ingredients. "How good of a fighter is he?"

"He once beat up a bar filled to the rim full of bad ass fighters that thought they were someone while reading his dirty book." Rain said while shivering at the thought of his book.

"What kind of books does he read?" Barnette asked as she flipped a page on the book.

"He reads naughty books that always have mom, Aunt Suki, and Aunt Willow very angry. He's always getting into trouble with Zoey, and has a bad habit of picking up women and never being around for the next day." Rain paused and placed the bowl onto the counter. "He really isn't that great of a role model, but he's still really fun to be around when you get to know him. But when it comes to training under him, his methods are a little… strange." Rain shook his head as he placed pulled out some dumplings and stuck them over a small grill to let them cook.

"Why do you say that?" Meia questioned as she watched the Dango's cook.

"He never once took me seriously. Hell, he never takes anyone seriously when he fights. I've only seen him take someone serious once, and that was when he was training against Uncle Blood, Aunt Suki, Aunt Willow, mom, Zoey, and brother. He nearly got killed fighting them, and he still came out on top, but that was only because brother refused to take him seriously as well. Willow was doing the same thing, but she wasn't using her mini Shotel's she often uses." Rain looked down at smoking Dango with a large smile on his face.

"Wait, he's that good but even they wouldn't take him seriously?" Barnette gasped.

"Alex must have been pretty good back then." Meia said with a sad smile.

"Brother never lost to anyone when he fought once I came around. He often beat up people that chose to pick on me for my features." Rain's ears dropped down as he remembered those days. They weren't ones that he liked, but they were still good ones. "I remember one time, Zoey-nee-chan, and Alex-nii-san beat up three hundred people because one person pushed me through a glass wall in an attempt to kill me, just because I was different." 

"I'd a killed him for doing such a thing." Meia said sternly. Rain nodded as he pulled the small sticks off the grill and handed three to Barnette and Meia while he took four for himself. Meia and Barnette blinked as they looked at the strange things before taking a small bite. The two women blinked in surprise at how good the Beef Ground was while they continued to eat the little snacks. "These are pretty good."

"Yep, this was what Okaa-san first made for me when they brought me onboard the Eternal." Rain chirped as he finished eating his snack. "I always liked this kind more than the others. Not sure why though." He stated as he threw the small sticks in the trash. "Well, I'm off to do my homework so incase we survive everything I don't have to worry about Okaa-san yelling at me about not doing my homework." Rain groaned as he started walking out of the kitchen.

Meia watched him leave, making sure that he was out of hearing range since he did have good ears. She smiled as she turned to look at Barnette with a grin. "So, what kind of cake are you going to make?" Meia asked with a blank expression.

"I don't know." She mussed as she started pulling out ingredients for one of the cakes in the book.

(-)

"So it's true!" Dita asked as she bounced up and down on the bridge. Maya and the bridge bunnies just smiled at Dita's reaction to the news. "Rain is really up!"

"That's right." Maya said with a grin. Dita continued to jump up and down as a smile appeared on her face. "He should be doing his homework right about now. So it would be best not to bother him unless he comes out to ask for help. He's not aloud to have me help him, but he's smart enough to not need help. He should be done with his work in a few hours so he won't be long."

"Why does he have to do homework if he works for the military?" Amarone asked.

"That's because he wants to be a Flight Instructor when he's considered able to teach. Even though he's a pilot, and a damn fine one I might add, he still needs to have a certain educational degree before they'll let him do just that." Maya answered.

"I wonder what kind of teacher he'd be." Misty mussed to herself.

"A pretty funny one if you ask me." BC commented while chuckling. "I can't see someone like him being a Flight Instructor since he's normally really grumpy when it comes to being in those strategy meetings with Meia and the other pilots."

"He's only like that because he's use to working alone." Maya answered. The Bridge bunnies all frowned at that. "It's actually not what you think. He's always had teammates when he goes out on missions; it's just that most missions wind up with them splitting up to deal with multiple enemies, or reactors that need to be shut down. I'm sure you get the picture."

"So what kind of homework does he deal with?" Magno questioned.

"The basics, Advanced Algebra, Trigonometry, History, Aviation, Space Science, Human Science, and Advanced Robotics." Maya said with a large grin. "I personally like the last one." She said with the same grin.

"He must be smart if he can do all that." Celtic gasped.

"Yes he is, that's why he tries so hard to do everything he can so he make his dream come true." Maya said sadly.

(-)

Rain moaned as he finished up his homework. He knew it all, but there was just something wrong with him. He couldn't figure it out. He knew all the answers to all the problems; it was just that his mind wouldn't let him write it down. It was something he hadn't felt before. It was just strange to him. He groaned again as he put all his books away while looking back at the photo on his laptop. He closed it slowly with his tail as he finished putting away his books.

_Brother…_

(-)

Barnette sighed as she sunk down into the water in the Bathhouse. She sighed again as her eyes scanned to the left, listening for anything really strange. Her mind was drawing up blanks on as to why she was feeling the way she did. She knew what had caused her to feel the way she did, but she didn't know why she did. Her mind just couldn't understand what had caused it. She wanted to understand why, but she couldn't. She wanted to know why this was happening to her, but there was no one she could talk to.

_I wonder why this is happening to me. _Barnette grumbled as she got out of the water.

(-)

"Hey, Meia." Meia turned to find Barnette walking up to her. Meia was in the Bio Garden, one of the few places she loved to be in. Barnette noticed that she was now listening, and she continued while taking a seat next to her. "What was it like?" Meia blinked, not truly understanding what she meant. "What was it like when you realized when you loved Alex?"

"Why, did you fall in love with Hibiki or something? Dita and Misty would skin you alive if you tried to steal him from them." Meia replied with a grin. Barnette shot her a dirty look while shaking her head. "So this has something to do with Rain, doesn't it?" Barnette nodded slyly. "I see." Meia took a deep breath. "I don't really know. I know he played hard to get. He actually tried to come up with a bunch of reasons on why I shouldn't be with him. In the end, we actually got together." Meia turned to face her with a shy glance. "Does Rain make you confused now?"

"What makes you say that?!" Barnette stammered. Meia just chuckled. "I just wanted to know because… because…" Barnette stopped as she looked up at the stars.

"You're never really this confused about anything and you never ask about men. The only reason I say this, is because you haven't been the same since Gascgone died. I know its not because you miss her, but as to what changed you is something I'd like to know about." Meia confessed with a grin.

Barnette turned her head to look at her with a strange smile. "Can you keep a secret?" Meia raised a brow while nodding. "Before I chose to take up the Registry position, I went to visit him in the Infirmary. When I got to see him, he was still out cold. I thanked him for saving me before leaving. When I started walking towards the door, he said something smelled nice, and that it must have been me." She blushed. Meia started chuckling lightly while Barnette just grumbled. "Don't you dare laugh at me!" She threatened.

"I'm sorry, but I just find that a little funny." She chuckled again. Meia stopped laughing as she turned to look at her with sad eyes. "I don't know what he thinks of you though. I know that he is lonely. He's lonely of the heart though. He views me as a sister since I loved his brother." Meia paused again. "You should talk to him though. He's the one that's on your mind. The only one that can help you with your problem is him. That's what I did when Alex got on my mind." Meia stood up and stretched before leaving.

_I have to talk to him about this, huh? _Barnette stood up with a slight worried expression written on her face. She sighed as she went to go find Rain.

(-)

Rain growled as he stared at the note on his door. It was from Barnette, and he didn't feel like going anywhere. He was tired, despite the fact that he had been a sleep for nearly two weeks, and he didn't feel like going anywhere. Rain grumbled as he ripped the note from the door, crumpled it up, placed it in his pocket, and opened the door to his room.

"I guess I was right." Barnette stated. Rain glared at her while he continued walking into the room. "You're tired, aren't you?"

"Barnette, why are you in my room and asking stupid questions?" Rain growled as he threw his coat across the room. "I'm not in the mood for an argument."

"I don't wanna argue. I just wanna talk." She stated as she took a seat on his bed.

"I don't wanna talk. I wanna sleep." He moaned as he threw his combat boots into the corner of his room. "Now… get out!" He growled as he glared at her.

"It can't wait for tomorrow." She said sadly. Rain snorted at her words, causing her to bite her bottom lip. "Please, just listen to me." She whispered. Rain sighed as he took a seat on his computer chair. Barnette took a deep breath. "What do you think of me?"

Rain raised a brow as he said, "An annoying woman that never leaves me alone," while turning to look at the door. "Are you happy?" Barnette glared at him.

"Rain, I'm serious." She said sadly. "Can't you just be serious for once in your life? You've never said anything nice to me while you were awake."

Rain raised a brow at that. Something smelt funny when she said that. "What are you talking about?" He inquired.

"When you were out cold in the Infirmary, you said something to me in your sleep." Rain sat up, wanting to hear this. "You said something smelt nice, and that it must have been me." Rain went wide eyed as his face turned bright red. He was happy that Barnette wasn't paying attention to him as he quickly regained his composure. "You do have feelings for me, and I have feelings for you. All I wanna hear is you say something like that again. I wanna hear you say that again."

"What, that you smell nice?" He moaned. Barnette nodded slowly. "Look, I was out cold, I was probably drugged up on something Duerro was giving me. Don't think too much about it." He told her.

Barnette closed her eyes as a single tear slide down her cheek. Rain didn't see it, but Barnette slowly stood up and walked over to him. "Rain…" She whispered. Rain turned around and sighed. "Why are you so hardheaded?" She whispered. Rain narrowed his eyes on hers.

"Get out." He moaned as he spun around to face his computer. Barnette spun his chair around, much to his displeasure. "Hey, I told you to get out!" He growled as he stood up. Barnette shoved him up against the wall, a scowl on her face. "First you barge into my room to talk to me and ask stupid questions!"

"Shut up." She cried silently.

"Then you say that I said something in my sleep!" He continued as he pushed her away. "And now you're asking my if I'm hardheaded!"

"Rain, please shut up and listen." She cried as she engulfed him a hug. Rain stopped and pushed her away. "Please just answer me one question." Rain glared at her. "Can you love me?" Rain stopped and turned away. "Can you love me like what Alex and Meia had? You've been on my mind since I heard you say what you did. But now… now I'm just confused."

Rain looked away as he said, "It won't work." Barnette went wide eyed as she looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"Why?" She whispered as she punched his chest slightly. Rain looked down at her with sad eyes. He had never once figured that she would act like this. It just made him feel bad for once.

"I can't be with you because I tried to kill you three times." He whispered. Barnette looked up at him with sad eyes. "I don't want to be close to someone like that. I can't be close to someone I tried to kill."

"I already forgave you for that moment. I started it and I deserved what you did to me." She cried as she punched his chest again.

"Barnette," Rain cupped her chin with his hand so he could look her in the eye. She had tears in her eye as she looked at him. "I can't be with you because I've tried to kill you three times in my life." He whispered.

"What do you mean by that? You only tried twice." She whispered as she regained her composer slowly. Rain's hand went to her side that had her old scar. Barnette went wide eyed as she realized what he meant. Barnette's hand slowly crossed over his scar that was on his chest. "It was you." She whispered.

"I'm sorry. But it wouldn't work between us." He whispered as he lowered his hand. Barnette dropped her hand as she placed her head on his chest. "That's why it won't work between us. I don't want to be with you, because I hate you." He slowly pushed her away.

"I know you don't mean that." She whispered. "I know you don't mean that."

"Barnette, you're not like me. I'm… I'm not human." He looked down at his hands and tail with sad eyes.

Barnette slowly grabbed his hand while looking into his sad eyes. "But you are human!" She cried. "We accept you. That's got to show you that we at least view you as something that others think you're not."

"Barnette…"

"Please, if you really hated me…" Barnette slowly leaned towards his face. "…then you wouldn't resist this." She pressed her lips against his. Rain closed his eye slowly as he pressed his lips against hers. Barnette slowly pulled away while smiling.

"I still hate you." He whispered while leaning his head on hers.

"No you don't." She cried.

"Barnette, I can't make this work. I… I don't know anything about being in a relationship with another." He whispered.

Barnette kissed him again. When she slowly began to pull away, she said, "Well make it work. I don't know how to do this either," while wrapping her arms around his waist. Rain smiled as he picked her up bridal style to place her on his bed. "How are we going to deal with this though?" She finally asked. Rain smirked and slid her jacket off. Barnette closed her eyes as she pulled his shirt off.

"Once step at a time I guess." He whispered before kissing her again. Barnette moaned as she lied down on the bed while Rain slowly slid her pants off. "Barnette, thank you, for saying that you love me. It means more to me to hear those words from someone that isn't family related." He whispered before kissing her again.

"Just promise me you won't leave another scar on me, and I promise to love you for as long as I can." She whispered.

(-)

The next day was a little strange. Rain awoke to a strange feeling. It wasn't something he was use to, but at the same time, it felt normal to him. Rain stared at the ceiling of his room for a few seconds before a slight moan caught his ears. It was just low enough for him to barely hear, but he was still able to hear it. Turning his head to the sound, he smiled at the sight of Barnette lying beside him. Barnette's naked body was barely covered by the thin sheets. Rain smiled as his mind played back what happened last night, while he pushed a strand of hair out of her face.

Barnette slowly began to stir as she felt Rain's hand brush against her face. She slowly opened an eye to see him smiling at her. She smiled back as she pulled the thin sheet over her shoulder. "How long have you been up?" She whispered while sitting up straight in his bed. Rain smirked as the sheet fell off, showing her breasts. Barnette smiled as she looked down at herself.

"Just a few minutes ago." He whispered while placing his hands behind his head. "I was wondering, why do you love me?"

Barnette rolled over onto Rain's chest while smiling down at him. "I don't know why." She whispered while snuggling up against his chest. "Why? Are you afraid that I would leave you or something?"

"No." Rain paused while rubbing her back. "I just wanted to know, because… I don't want to be left alone again."

"Were you alone at one point?" Barnette looked up into his eyes that seemed sad. She bit her bottom lip knowing this was probably something that had to do with his past on Taraaku, but for some reason, she had a feeling that she shouldn't push to hard on the subject. If there was one thing she had learned from dealing with him for so long, it was that he would get really annoyed when he was asked about his past on Taraaku. Barnette sighed as she leaned back down on his chest. "I won't leave you. I promise to never leave you." She promised.

Rain closed his eyes as he raised her head so she could look at him. "Thank you." He cried while placing a tender kiss on her lips. "But you are right; I was alone at one point. I don't wanna feel that way… ever again." He stated after they parted.

"I promise that I won't leave you… ever." Barnette kissed him again. A knock at his door caused Rain to growl at the mood kill and Barnette to sigh as she rolled off of him. "Please kill the idiot at the door." She moaned.

"I can't." He said with a sigh. Barnette placed a pillow on her face as he continued. "It's Meia-nee-chan. She must be looking for me so she can see if I'm okay after what happened to me." He finished while getting out of bed to put on some pants.

Barnette pulled the pillow off her face as she looked over at Rain with a curious expression. "What does that mean?"

Rain brushed off her comment with a wave before opening the door. Sure enough, Meia was on the other side and raising an eyebrow at his lack of a shirt. Meia took a deep breath as she asked, "Have you seen Barnette? She's been missing since the party last night and a few people are worried about her," while trying to take a peek into his room.

"No." Meia snorted at his lie as she pushed him into his room so she could enter. A smile formed on her face as she saw Barnette lying in bed with just the covers over her body. "I know what you're thinking, but it's not what it looks like." Rain joked.

"Oh, please pray tell what you mean by that." Meia mocked as she took a seat on the bed. Barnette kept her eyes on Meia, just in case she somehow went into Big Sister mode. "I would love to know what you were actually doing then."

"We weren't having sex if that's what you were thinking." Rain started chuckling at his own joke.

"Oh, what were you doing then?" Meia inquired, looking down at the naked form that was Barnette. Barnette started chuckling as she watched Rain pick up a nearby piece of garbage and threw it into the waste basket.

"We were playing Strip Hoops. Every time you miss," Rain made his shot. "…has to take off an article of clothing." He finished with a grin. "If you can't tell, Barnette's losing. And she's a bit of sore loser if you ask me."

"So that would explain the odd noises coming from your room last night then?" Meia questioned. Barnette paled as she remembered all the noises she made during the night.

"That was me crying myself to sleep because of the pain I was in." Rain laughed as he doubled over from his joke. Meia just smiled and shook her head before walking out. "Looks like this is something else you have to keep a secret, eh Nee-chan?" Meia nodded with a smile as the door closed.

Rain shrugged his shoulders as he climbed back into bed with Barnette, much to her enjoyment. "So, that means "Sister" right?" Rain nodded as she rolled over onto his chest and placed her head on his chest. "I do have a request to make however." Rain blinked as he looked her in the eye. "I want you to start teaching me Japanese since you tend to use it so often."

"Sure thing, Koibito." Rain said with a grin as his pants slipped out of the covers.

"And what does that mean?" Barnette kissed him gentle on the lips.

"Lover…" he whispered before his tail wrapped around her waist. Barnette smiled at the nickname as she slowly fell back asleep on his chest. Rain followed suit a few seconds later, making a pretty peaceful image for anyone who could get through the looked door to Rain's room.

A/N

Well, I finally got them together and Dale's been somewhat fixed. For those of you that still want a mobile suit in the fic that would you like to see at the end, I'm still open to requests. As always Read and Review.


	12. Happy Birthday

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 12 Happy Birthday

Meia glared at her calendar. She hated the day that was staring at her. She hated it just as bad as Christmas. She had found out first hand on just how bad this day could be when the day's fate was held by Jura's hands. Yes, it was Meia's birthday, and she wasn't looking towards it. She was truly going to hate this day since she had to dodge the Surveillance Crew, Rain's nose and ears, and Jura. It was not going to be fun. Meia sighed as she looked back at the painting Alex had made for her before he died. She wished he was here and had a feeling that she knew what he would have given her. She smiled at the thought before opening her door to leave. She knew that one place she would be safe and had a plan on how to get to it, but the only problem would be dodging the said people.

_This could be hard._

(-)

Barnette awoke to one of the greatest feelings again. Her eyes landed on Rain's sleeping form beside her. It had been a few months since they had gotten together and she still couldn't get use to Rain's strange ability to make her happy when they slept together. They had only slept in the same room twice, and each time was something she couldn't explain. A knock at the door had her whining as Rain fell to the floor while growling like a wild animal.

"Please kill them." Barnette whined.

"I would, but then you'd kill me." He groaned. Barnette instantly knew who was on the other side. She whined too as she threw the covers off and got decent. Rain shook his head as he watched her put only her bra and panties on. She motioned for him to open the door after he got his pants on. Rain opened the door and Jura flew by him to try and snatch up Barnette. "Nice of you to come in." Rain moaned.

"Barnette, do you know what day it is?!" Barnette shook her head. "It's the day." She whispered. Rain raised a brow while Barnette went wide eyed and started smiling.

"What day is it?" Rain asked as he shut the door to and started getting dressed.

"It's Meia's birthday!" Barnette cried as she started getting dressed.

Rain blinked a few times as the information was slowly digested in his head. He never thought about such a day. He knew what it meant after being with his adopted family, and came to like the day quite a lot. He smiled at the thought of seeing Meia happy again. "What do you have planned?" Rain inquired with a grin worthy of a Prank Master on April Fools Day. Barnette and Jura both had the same grin as they went into detail on what they had planned.

(-)

Meia walked through the many corridors of the Nirvana with stealth like skills. Years of evading these sorts of days had taught her well on evasion, sneaking in the shadows, and being able to hear every little thing in detail. She knew where everyone was just by the sounds of their breathing. She moved through the corridors like a cat, searching for its prey. In this case, it was the hanger, and her Dread.

_So far so good. _Meia thought with a grin.

"You do realize that I can still smell you, and hear you from three corridors down, right?" Rain asked with a smirk. Meia closed her eyes tightly as she plastered a fake grin on her face. "So, what are you sneaking around for?" Rain asked as he walked up to her.

"I'm not sneaking around." Rain stared at her blankly as she continued to smile. "I'm heading to the hanger to do some recon." Meia paused as she saw Rain cock his head to the left while giving her a strange expression. "You wouldn't by any chance happen to know what day it is, would you."

Rain blinked a few times before shaking his head. "Sorry, I don't really look at my calendar like most people. Why, is this some special day on Mejarru or something?" Meia narrowed her eyes on Rain. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Meia stormed off towards the Hanger while saying a few curse words that she knew in Japanese. Rain smirked as he pulled out a black com device. "She's heading towards the Hanger as you said she would."

"_Rodger that. Rain, follow her as best you can. You need to keep an eye on her." _Barnette replied. Rain smirked as he put the com device away and started following Meia.

(-)

"Okay, Rain's following her at the moment." Barnette informed her comrades. Jura nodded with a grin. Paiway nodded as Kit and Kero saluted her. Dita saluted with a strange expression on her face. Hibiki peered back around the door before nodding for her to continue. "Okay, here's the plan. Rain is going to be keeping tabs on Meia the whole day so we know where she is. I'll be taking care of the cake. Jura will be setting up the decorations with Dita. Hibiki's going to help take care keeping tabs on Meia."

"Wouldn't it be easer if we kept her occupied?" Hibiki asked as he looked back into the room. He glanced back out into hallway before bringing his head back in and whispering, "She's coming! Hide the plans!" while darting towards Dita. Dita instantly latched onto him like she always did. Barnette blinked a few times before hiding Rain's book. Jura began pestering Hibiki for his "Seeds" like she always did. Paiway pulled out her notebook and darted towards the closes potted plant to take fake notes while whispering, "Pai Check" as she wrote.

Meia walked in a few seconds later and blinked a few times at the sight before walking over to get some coffee. Sighing, she took a seat at one of the closer tables to the people that were planning her birthday party. She made sure to keep her ears open to the people beside her. Rain walked in a few minutes after Meia did, but he had Misty latched to his back, much to Barnette's amusement. Meia smirked at the sight while her eyes, met with Barnette's, shaking head.

"So Rain, what are you doing tonight?" Misty asked seductively into his ear. Barnette almost pulled out her gun and shot Misty right there for that. Rain just smirked as he walked over to Barnette. "Are you going to be sleeping with Barnette again?" She whispered. Barnette and Rain blushed while Misty just laughed.

"No, I actually have plans." Rain said with a pout. Misty pouted too while Barnette looked at him in confusion. "I have plans with Barnette tonight. We have dinner plans."

"I almost forgot about that!" Barnette gasped as she walked over to him and placed a tender kiss on his lips. Misty smiled at the sight. Dita smiled too as she looked over at Hibiki with a love struck look in her eye. Hibiki raised a brow while trying not to hurl. Jura just glared at Barnette. "That's right, thanks for reminding me." She whispered.

Rain's tail wrapped around her waist while he whispered, "I like it," with a large grin. Jura gritted her teeth while watching the mushy scene before her. "So, what do you want for breakfast, my treat." Barnette kissed him as she followed him to the kitchen.

"What does she have that I don't have?!" Jura screeched.

"They fell in love. You just want one for the sake of having one. That's the reason he fell in love with her and not you." Misty stated calmly. Jura just growled as she pulled Hibiki and Dita behind her as she stormed towards the kitchen. Paiway followed her, writing in her notebook as she went.

Meia just stared at the scene for a few seconds before shaking her head. _Is he helping them or does he just not know what day it is? _Meia thought while sipping on her coffee.

(-)

Jura stormed into the room with Hibiki protesting the whole way and Dita was walking beside her. When they got into the room, they were a little stunned by the sight before them. Barnette was sitting on the kitchen counter, kissing Rain. Rain had his tail wrapped around her waist. One of his hands was caressing her left breast while his other hand was holding her cheek. Jura growled at the two, causing them to stop and grin at their friends. Rain shrugged and kissed Barnette again. Barnette returned the kiss and hopped off the counter while straightening out her clothes.

"So, you going to make breakfast or not?" Jura questioned.

"Actually, we got up earlier this morning and had breakfast back at my room." Rain stated while resting his head on Barnette's shoulder and wrapping his arms around her waist. Barnette leaned back on his head while placing a hand on his shoulder. "Besides, I think we need to think of a way to keep Meia from getting off the ship. I already had Parfait disable her machine so she can't get off. We still need to find someway to keep her occupied so she doesn't get away from us." Rain finished.

Misty walked in while shaking her head at the sight. "Rain, why did you have me do that, earlier!" Misty asked as she stormed over to him. Barnette narrowed her eyes on Misty before pulling her gun out and placing it under Rain's chin.

"I needed Meia to think I was trying to get away from you. If she figured out that I was tailing her, she'd probably hate me." Rain stated. Barnette put her gun away while snuggling up against him again. "Besides, I'm supposed to keep tabs on her so we know where she is at all times." He added.

"Why are you keeping tabs on her?" Misty inquired.

"It's Meia's birthday, and she has a nasty habit of dodging it." Barnette told her. "This year we intend to make sure she celebrates it, but the only problem, is that she's really good at dodging it. We figured Rain could keep tabs on her since he has heightened senses unlike us." 

"Wouldn't it be easier to just occupy her?" Misty said flatly.

"It would, but we don't know how to right now." Hibiki replied. Misty looked at him with a blank stare before the door hissed open to reveal Pyoro with Kahlua tied on his back. "I think I got an idea now." Hibiki corrected.

(-)

"Are you sure it's okay with Pyoro though?" Ezra questioned. Dita was sitting in the Infirmary with the others while Hibiki and Rain kept Pyoro from protesting up front to Ezra.

"Oh yeah, he said it's okay." Dita lied with a large smile on her face. Ezra nodded slowly while shutting her screen off. Dita smiled and turned to the team with a large grin. "Alright, let's get her stuff ready."

"I WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE PYORO-2 AWAY FROM ME!" Pyoro yelled from under the two men. Hibiki and Rain slowly got off the floating robot while Dita picked up the baby gear and Barnette picked up Kahlua. Pyoro tried to run/fly over to Kahlua to protect "his" child. Rain snatched the little robot up before it could move to intercept Barnette and threw it to the ground as hard a he could. Pyoro had swirls in his eyes from the impact, signaling that he had been "knocked out", or what ever you would consider it.

"So, now all we have to do is find Meia and give her Kahlua." Dita stated while Barnette gave Hibiki, Kahlua, while she drug Rain off to the kitchen to help her with the cake. The others all shrugged as they went off to do their assorted tasks.

(-)

Meia sat in the cockpit of her Dread, flipping switches and pressing buttons, just to work off her aggression at the moment. Parfait had disabled her Dread under the reasons that she was doing a standard maintenance, much to Meia's disbelief. Meia had already yelled at her to put her machine back together, but Parfait said that she was still working on them. Meia groaned at how easily she had been set up, but she knew that she would get lucky somehow. She didn't know how, but she figured she would.

The door to the hanger hissed open. "NO!" Meia made herself heard and known as she continued doing her task at hand. Hibiki stormed up to Meia with Kahlua with a grin on his face. Meia glared at the little baby while trying to find someway to get out of this one. "I'm not going to look after Ezra's baby. Get Pyoro to do it!" She stated.

"To bad!" Hibiki groaned as he placed Kahlua in her lap, and ran for the door. Dita dropped the baby bag and followed after Hibiki with all speed, leaving a mad Meia behind. Once the duo was far enough away, Hibiki pulled a com device from his pocket and said, "Operation complete. Meia won't be able to get away from us now," as they stopped to rest around one of the many corners in the hallway.

"_Rodger that." _Barnette replied before she moaned a few times. Hibiki looked at the com device, knowing what she was doing on the other side. He sighed as she continued. _"Just get away from her for now, and head back to base. We need to hurry up before she figures out where we are."_ Hibiki and Dita nodded while heading towards the kitchen.

(-)

Meia stared at the little crying _thing _in her arms with all the confusion she could muster. She looked for someone to give the _thing _to. No matter where she turned though, she never found a single person. The once crowded hallways were now empty and devoid of life it seemed. The little _thing _in her arms continued to cry its little heart out, obviously wanting something that she didn't know about.

"What do you want?" Meia whined as she walked into a dark hallway. The little baby continued to cry as they walked through the dark hallway, looking for someone to drop the little kid off to. "Please stop crying? Please just stop it. I wish you could speak English so I knew what you wanted." Meia whined as she stopped to look for someone to give her to. The ship instantly rocked hard, sending her and Kahlua into a dark room. Meia made sure to roll with her crash landing, making sure to not hurt Kahlua in the process. The door to the room hissed closed, and the next thing she knew, they were floating out in space.

(-)

"Meia's been successfully occupied for the moment." Barnette stated. Rain smiled as his hands slipped under Barnette's shirt, much to her enjoyment. "Not right now." Barnette pulled Rain's hands out from under her shirt. Rain sighed, and went back to pulling out ingredients for the cake. "We can do that later tonight. I promise." She told him.

"Oh alright, but you had better mean it this time. You said the same thing last night and all we did was cuddle." Rain groaned as he pulled his communicator out. "Hibiki, make damn sure she doesn't catch you, or I'll skin you alive."

"_You're an idiot if you think she's going to catch me." _Hibiki said.

"Whatever." Rain placed the device back in his pocket. "What about presents? What do you have planned to give her?" Barnette blinked a few times while Rain continued to stare at her blankly.

"I don't really know. Normally we just give anything we've stolen to them. Why do you ask? You got something special you wanna give her?" Rain nodded as he placed a hand in his pocket. Barnette looked down at it for a few seconds before looking up at him. "What do you have for her?"

"You'll see when I give it to her." He whispered while pulling his hand out. Barnette nodded, understanding that it was probably something he had cherished his whole life. "Let's hurry up so I can go wrap this up." The ship instantly rocked hard, sending Barnette and Rain to the ground hard. "Baby you rocked me." Rain muttered before cursing loudly. The alarms soon came online, blaring loudly for the pilots to get to work. "Can't these things ever give us a break? I mean just for once?!" Rain cursed as he and Barnette began running towards the hanger.

(-)

"Status report!" BC barked.

"Two Egg Carriers have appeared directly behind us!" Celtic announced. "They've launched about fifty Cube Types and a strange new machine! It looks like a whale of some sort!" A display of a strange white and blue whale like machine appeared on screen.

"All pilots, there's a new unit out there! Be careful. We don't know what it can do!" BC stated.

"_Rain E. Switchfoot, Justice, Kicking off!" _The hanger was instantly filled with sparks as the Infinite Justice launched from the hanger.

An emergency error appeared on screen, surprising a few people on the bridge. "What's the error about?!" BC questioned.

"It appears as though something has left the Nirvana! It looks like a Life Pod or something! Can't say for sure!" Amarone stated.

"Where's Meia?" Jura's face appeared on screen. "We can't find her anywhere!"

"Meia's signal isn't appearing on the Nirvana anymore!" Ezra cried.

"That Life Pod has two heat signatures in it! Meia's signal is coming from inside it!" Misty cried.

"We need to rescue the pod." BC whispered to herself. "All units, you need to rescue that Life Pod! Get it before the enemy does!"

(-)

"Son of a bitch this sucks!" Rain yelled as he got up front with Vandread Dita. "Jura, take control of the Dread teams while Hibiki and Dita take care of the new arrival. I'll go try to find that Life Pod." Jura nodded on screen while Hibiki flew the combination towards the new arrival. Rain blasted off to look for the pod.

"Dread teams one and three, stay back and defend the ship. The rest of you, take out the fighters to keep them from heading towards the pod. We need to give Rain as much time as we can so he can find that pod!" Jura ordered. A loud reply of "Rodger" rang out a few seconds later.

_Come on Rain, you can do it. _Jura thought.

(-)

Meia stared out through the small window in the Life Pod. She looked back at Kahlua with worried eyes. Kahlua looked very happy at the moment in her Mejarru Trooper Suit. Meia knew she would be safe in the suit, since she had used them several times in the past when she was out in space. Despite the fact that they smelled real bad after being in them for only one hour, but she figured that it was worth it.

"I guess you really don't care about the situation we're in at the moment?" Meia questioned with a heavy sigh. She looked around the room for a few seconds. "I know those controls are busted, but what the hell." She moaned as she started searching for a way to send a distress signal. Sure enough, the controls were busted. The only thing that managed to work was a temperature gauge that read fifty two degrees, and was slowly decreasing.

"This day just keeps getting better and better." She moaned. The Life Pod instantly rocked hard, sending Meia crashing to the ground next to a smiling Kahlua. "I'm glad you find this funny." She growled. Kahlua continued to smile and giggle from inside her suit. _How do you do it? How can you just sit there and smile at me, when we're in danger? _Meia looked back to see the pilots all fighting the enemy. _Alex…_

(-)

"Damn it!" Hibiki cursed as he fired two tubes of energy towards the new arrival. The new unit was able to turn invisible and hit them from behind. It seemed to move faster when it was invisible, and that became clear after several attempts to hit and get hit from behind. The creature turned invisible before the energy beams could crash into it. The two pilots cursed again as the unit crashed into them again. Hibiki let got of the controls, killing the machine's movement and functional abilities. Dita fell into terror as they continued to get rammed by the large unit.

"Mr. Alien, what are you doing?! We need to destroy this thing before it hurts the others!" Dita cried.

"_Hibiki, what the hell are you doing?!" _BC yelled.

"Easy," Hibiki snorted. The enemy continued to ram them all over. "When you can't push…" the enemy unit appeared and was on a direct course for them. "…pull!" He yelled as his hands snapped back onto the controls, causing the large combination to grab hold of the surprised unit. The back cannons flopped over onto their shoulders while lighting up. "Eat this!" Hibiki roared as the two cannons blasted the large monster. The strange unit curled up like burnt plastic before exploding.

"We did it!" Dita cried.

"Now let's go help the others." Hibiki suggested as he maneuvered the combination to head for the others.

(-)

Meia began to panic as she watched the Infinite Justice take some minor damage. Rain retaliated to that by throwing his beam boomerang into three Cube Types, slicing them in half. When the weapon began heading back, it sliced the Dita clone in half. Rain smirked as he caught the weapon and put it back in place before shooting three more Cube Types with his rifle. The Meia clone appeared from behind the Pod, trying to snatch it without having Rain know about it. Rain detached his Jet Pack, and let it shoot down the clone before it could react. Rain reattached the pack to his back while blasting another Cube.

_This is no good. Rain can't hold out for much longer. There's too many of them! _Meia thought while hugging Kahlua tightly to her chest. Kahlua had started crying after the enemy had managed to grab them, and hadn't stopped.

Another Carrier appeared off in the distance, much to Rain and Meia's disappointment. _This sucks! I can't keep this up for much longer! _"Jura, hurry your ass up! I can't keep fighting like this on my own!" He cried. The Justice took another hit to its chest, sending him sailing towards the pod again. Rain saw Meia shield Kahlua just incase he crashed into it.

"Rain, we're on our way, but we're having trouble getting to you." Jura replied. Rain could see her in the distance having trouble with another large group of the enemy units. "You're on your own until we can get over there!"

_Damn it all! _Rain cursed as he took another hit. _If I could get them away from the area I could go all out without having to worry about hurting them! _

"Rain, I'm on my way!" Barnette yelled. "Just hold out until I get there!" She cried. Rain could see her off in the distance, heading his way just as quickly as she could. Rain bit his lip, knowing it would take her a few minutes until she'd show up.

Rain cursed as he took another hit, sending him closer to the pod. He cursed again as he took another hit. He could still Barnette off in the distance, and she was probably still one minute away from them. Rain cursed again as another Dita clone appeared to snatch up the life pod. Meia jumped back as the purple eyes of the clone appeared in front of the window before the Justice appeared to kick it in the face, sending it flying away.

_Just hang in there, Meia. I promise I won't let you die. _Rain blasted the clone away while his pack went crashing into a nearby Carrier, temporarily killing the power to the Cube units before the last Carrier appeared. Rain growled as it let loose another wave of enemy units. Rain pulled out a beam saber to defend Meia and Kahlua. The enemy got within striking distance when a combination of missiles and energy beams, crashed into the enemy units, destroying them instantly.

Rain slumped back in his chair after realizing that the enemy was gone, and that Meia was safe. He looked back at the small window of the pod to see Meia smiling up at him with Kahlua in her arms and smiling up at him. Meia smiled at him while taking a seat with Kahlua in her arms.

"We got them, Rain. Good work." Barnette said as she brought the pod into the Delivery ship.

(-)

Meia opened the hatch to the pod to see a smiling Ezra and an angry Pyoro. Pyoro instantly snatched up Kahlua as she started crying loudly. Ezra was about to pick up Kahlua when Meia snatched her up and held her the way you always would. Kahlua instantly stopped crying while trying to grab Meia's nose or hair.

"This is how you hold a baby, Pyoro." She instructed as she cradled the little baby in her arms. Ezra just smiled as she followed Meia to a chair to take a seat beside her. "Thank you Ezra, for letting me take care of her. I think I learned a few things today." She whispered as she handed Kahlua over to her. Pyoro continued to yell about the name as they headed back home.

(-)

"She's on her way." Rain whispered as he, and the others that had spent the whole day planning her birthday, took up a hiding spot behind a tree. The others nodded, showing that they heard him. A few seconds later, Meia strolled in with a sigh. As soon as she was in sticking distance, the crew jumped out and shouted, "Happy Birthday!" at the top of their lungs. Meia jumped back in surprise, though Rain could see that she faked it.

"Don't scare me like that." She scolded. Rain's ears dropped down, showing that he was sorry for what he had done. Meia smiled and scooped Rain up into a hug while whispering, "I knew you were following me around since the beginning," into his ear.

Rain smirked and whispered, "I know you were," into her ear. Meia smirked at the reply while releasing him. "I think you're the guest of honor for two reasons today." Rain said while forcing her to walk towards her cake. Meia just rolled her eyes as everyone sang the birthday song. She blew out her candles after mentally making a wish.

As the party went on, everyone slowly began to pass out from either drinking to much Alcohol, over heating, or just getting to tired. For those that were still awake, they were either on the edge of passing out, or were totally drunk, making those that were still fully awake and note drunk, laugh loudly at some of their actions.

Meia slowly began to slip away, much to her enjoyment. She smiled as she got to the hallway and started to make her way to her room. "Hey…" Meia stopped and turned to see a worried Rain. Meia looked at the gift in his hand. It was a small jewelry box that was wrapped up with a purple ribbon. "Here, happy birthday." He whispered.

Meia took the item with a smile as she opened up the small box. Her eyes went wide as she looked down at the item. "How did you…"

"Gascgone gave it to mother during her meeting with her. She said that she couldn't bring herself to give it to you because she didn't know how you would react." He told her. Meia slowly pulled out Alex's old necklace he used to wear after he got it back. She stared at the item for a few second before falling to her knees crying. Rain appeared by her side in a second. Meia instantly latched onto him, crying into his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I figured you would like it more than I did. You knew a side to him that I never got a chance to see. I figured you would need it more than I do." He patted her back.

"Thank you." She whispered. "You don't know how much this means to me." She sniffed as she pulled back to smile at him. "What about you though. This is rightfully yours, isn't it?"

"No. He would have given this to you. I know that because I got to see what he'd give people during holidays or birthdays." Rain told her as he helped her stand up. "I hope you like it more than what I did."

"Rain, thank you for this, you don't know how much this actually means to me." She cried. Rain nodded as she smiled at him. Meia closed her eyes as a smile appeared on her face. Once she opened her eyes, she left Rain to himself as she headed towards her room.

Rain smiled at her one more time before turning around to head back to the party. He made it past one intersection in the hallway before he was grabbed and thrown against the wall and kissed roughly on the lips. Rain spun around and kissed her back. Barnette grinned as she rubbed her hands over his back. Rain pulled back with a sad smile.

"What wrong?"

Rain looked down at his hands that once held that gift. "She loved it." He whispered. Barnette realized what he meant after that. "I gave her Nii-san's old necklace he gave Rei when he asked her to marry him. I think she needed it more than I did." A single tear slide down his cheek as he looked at Barnette with a sad smile.

"Rain…"

"Barnette, I just wanna be alone tonight. I hope you don't mind." He whispered as he let her go. Barnette watched him walk down the corridor with a slow sad pace. She watched him jus walk away. Barnette shook her head as she ran after him. She quickly pulled him into a hug, forcing him to stop dead in his tracks with stunned eyes.

"You don't have to be alone anymore." She whispered. Rain closed his eyes tightly as he sank to his knees. "I won't _ever _leave you. I told you that when we started dating, and I meant it. I will never leave your side." Rain opened his eyes, knowing that she was right. "Come on, let's go back to your room so we can sleep. I'll keep my promise this time." She whispered. Rain smirked as he stood up.

Rain and Barnette were soon back at his room, kissing as they entered. Rain pinned her to the bed while kissing her roughly. Once they finished, they started lightly kissing as Rain pulled her pants off again. Barnette removed his coat, as he removed her vest.

"Rain, it's okay to cry in front of me. I promise to not make fun of you." Barnette whispered as she took off her shirt. Rain held her naked body close to his while she whispered, "You don't have to suffer from the loneliness anymore, not so long as you're with me," into his ear.

"I'm sorry for being this way, Koibito." Rain whispered as he rubbed her back with his hands. Barnette moaned in bliss as his tail slide between her legs. "I'm sorry for forgetting that. I just don't normally feel this way. I wish he was here though. I could really use his help." He kissed her again as they lay down on the bed. Rain was on top of her, smiling as he looked down.

"I'm sure he's here, just not visible to us." She replied while giving him a tender kiss. Their hands interlocked as they smiled at each other.

(-)

"So, how long until the fleet is assembled?" Suki questioned. Suki, Zoey, and Asaugi were having a meeting about their plan of attack on the Harvester forces. The leaders had agreed to help the two planets, believing that it would allow them a chance to renew their offer to the Taraaku people. For those that were willing to help and change the past they had created over the planet, they could nothing but smile at the chance to right all the wrongs they had done over the world. For those that didn't want to go, they were forced to, but there were only a few of them. At the moment, they were waiting for the fleet to arrive before they would depart to leave.

"They'll be here in three more hours, Suki. We can wait that long." Asaugi told her.

"Yes I understand, but I still think that we should leave now and leave a team behind to guide them there. If we don't leave now, we may arrive too late. If that happens, your son could die." Suki protested.

"I would normally agree with you, but the last piece of mail we received from Meia has confirmed that he now has a reason to live. He has found his purpose on that ship. He won't die now, now that he has a reason to keep on living." Asaugi stated.

"What mother says is true." Zoey added. Suki turned to face Zoey with protesting eyes. "Even if we left now, we would still arrive at the same time. The object is to get there as fast as we can while keeping our crew as rested as they can. Rain can hold out long enough for us to arrive. With him now having someone worth fighting for, he won't die so easily."

"But still…"

"Enough!" Asaugi growled. "Rain can handle himself. What happened before was nothing more than his instincts to protect everyone. Probably something I shouldn't have taught him, but none the less. That sacrifice helped him find something he never thought he'd achieve."

The three women fell silent as they looked out the large window. "Commander!" A voice screamed. "We've got an unknown ship heading this way! Whatever it is, it's the biggest ship I've ever seen!"

The three women ran to the window to see a Harvest Flag Ship heading their way. Their eyes instantly shot open as they found cold steel pressed against their throats. "What's this, an elite commander like your self caught off guard? My, you've become so rusty, haven't you?" A dark voice hissed. Asaugi looked to see the weapon as a blood soaked scythe. "I'll take great pleasure in killing you."


	13. To see what others could not

I don't own Vandread.

A/N

I would first like to say that I didn't do the episode where Hibiki meets Oosa and the others on the strange planet, because I've only seen the episode once, and because I can't find it anywhere and because I didn't want to screw it up. For those of you that were looking forward to it, I'm sorry. That was a good episode, but I can't find it to get the facts straight on it, so I'm not doing it. So this chapter takes place just after they've hit the mines.

Chapter 13 To see what others could not.

THIS IS THE TARAAKU EMPIRE FLAGSHIP TODOROKI. CEASE YOUR COURSE AND SAY THE PASSWORD. YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES TO RESPOND. OR FACE THE CONSQUENCES. YOU NOW SEE THE CONSQUENCES.

"We've emerged in Taraaku space." Celtic stated.

"Taraaku built these mines years ago." Bart whispered from inside the helm.

"Some welcome home party if you ask me." Maya snapped.

"Bart, you wouldn't by any chance know who these mines were for would you?" Magno asked.

"Pirates." He muttered.

"Well, you three better do something. Spit up the password so we can move on through." Magno ordered.

"I wish I could, but I'm a doctor training under another. I don't have the right status for the password either." Duerro stated sadly.

"Same here; I'm just a midshipmen, only seniors and above know the password." Bart added.

"Can't we just go out and smash them?" Hibiki asked as his face appeared on screen.

"No, we'll need them to repeal the Earth Forces." Magno told him. Hibiki looked away from the screen, almost as if to hidE something. "Dale, Maya, can you hack them?" Magno questioned.

"Unfortuantly, no we can not." Maya stated. "They appear to be voice enabled by a certain users. I can not hack this in the amount of time it has given." Maya stated while pointing to the clock on screen that read two minutes and was now slowly counting down.

NO PASSWORD RECEIVED. COMMENCING COUNTDOWN.

The clock instantly began counting down. Ezra announced how long they had. BC had sweat running down her face as the countdown reached one minute and thirty seconds. Rain was on the bridge with Barnette at his side, holding on to him and Jura. Maya and Dale started working as fast as they could to stop it from happening as the mines began to glow red. Hibiki sat in his cockpit as he stared out at Dita as she waited for a miracle in her Dread.

"No, I wanna go see my house! I wanna go see my family!" Paiway cried as she broke down into tears. She began wiping her face to clear away the tears, but it was no use. She couldn't stop from crying. To her surprise, Kero and Kit both appeared in front of her with a familiar voice talking for both of them.

"Don't get sad, we'll find a way through this." Duerro told her. Paiway smiled as she grabbed hold of Kit and Kero.

9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…0

"My name is Uragasemi Temeni. Rank: Commander in Chief of Intelligence Section. The password is K, A, N ,O, E zero, zero, three, one. Begin attestation."

Everyone stared at where the voice came from as the ship slowly began heading through the mine field that had opening up for them. The voice came from BC, but it was a mans voice. BC looked down at the ground in shame as she pressed a button on her control panel.

"We have an intruder on the bridge." Temeni whispered.

"Who is this…" the voice on the other end asked. BC grimaced as she Magno repeated her order.

"You… you knew?" BC wheeled around with her eyes full of shock. Rain growled at BC or Temeni while walking over to her. "I'm guessing you knew who I was, didn't you?" Rain picked him up by his collar.

"For the record, I've known all along whom you were." He growled while throwing him into the wall. "And I was the one to tell her who you were. I never forget a scent, especially yours." He finished as he stormed off. He stopped at the door, looking down at the ground. "If you turn me in, I'll have my real family kill this entire planet." BC nodded as she stood up for the guards that came in. Rain growled again as he stormed out.

The two guards bound BC and lead her down the corridor towards the brig. She took one last look at Bart as he exited the navigation chamber. He looked disappointed, but she played it off as nothing as the door closed.

(-)

The men, say for Rain, all stared at the new 'comrade' behind the laser bars. They were for once happy that they were on the outside looking in, rather than it being the other way around. Bart just stared at her with confusion in his eyes. Rain huffed, earning him another look of confusion from Hibiki before he looked back at BC.

"Were relations that bad between them?" Hibiki demanded to know.

"Yes. After Alex's people destroyed the military station we had in orbit, and the attack on the supply depot, we knew that open war was finally going to happen. Odd that the women didn't want to start a war, yet they had better fighters than what we had. All we have is better weaponry."

"How did they… make you… a woman?" Duerro inquired.

"A special 'Forbidden Gene' in the body made me who I am."

"The 'X' Chromosome, Doc." Rain snorted. Duerro nodded as he understood. "I am all woman, but what they did to me is something not even I'm certain of. I can't say for sure, but that's all I know. I was designed this way to go undercover to gather any kind of information I could for Taraaku."

"Now you know what betrayal feels like, eh Hibiki?" Rain inquired after watching Hibiki's reaction to her words. He knew that Hibiki was feeling completely betrayed at the moment, and he decided to not push his buttons for the time being. "What will happen to Magno?" Rain finally asked.

"It just depends on how she handles the information of the Harvesters to the leader of the women." BC replied.

"What about these stupid bastards?" Rain inquired further.

"These "Bastards" as you call them, happen to be your people as well." BC snapped. Rain walked over to her cell while his while pulling out his sword. He motioned to the key pad with an evil glint in his eye. "They are your people as well."

"I have no relations to any of these bastards anymore. I cut those years ago when they tried to make me kill my 'enemy'." Rain snapped. "I will not go back to that hell hole. I'd rather die." He turned away while walking towards another cell. "If you try to have them take me back, I'll kill anyone that tries to get in my way." He seethed before walking into the cell. The three remaining men sighed as they walked off.

(-)

The Mejarru troopers quickly began rounding up as many women as they could find. The men had cut a deal with the women, allowing them to get the women so long as they left their men alive. They promised them a safe journey home with no attacks so long as they didn't find a single dead male. The women were more than happy to comply to these demands and quickly started rounding up everyone they could. Meia and Paiway were caught in the hallway, forced to the ground and cuffed. Barnette and Jura were caught in the registry room, though Barnette intended to be caught after setting up a password on the controls. Parfait and Dita were caught in the kitchen, and then dragged off to the last ship to be transported away. Dita was screaming Hibiki's name as the ship flew away.

The one place the women didn't check was the Reactor Room, where the three men, and Pyoro, were sitting on the railing, looking out at the giant Pexis.

"This is where we all meet." Duerro mussed. Hibiki nodded sadly while Bart just stared out at the blue crystal. "This is where we discovered the truth behind what happened on Taraaku, about women, and men. We learned that we could live together, and yet not it might be torn down." 

"What do you thinks going to Rain?" Hibiki whispered.

"He's a man, and supposing BC doesn't say anything about him being from Taraaku, I'm certain they'll let him leave here with everything." Duerro told him.

"This sucks." Dale growled as he appeared with Maya beside him.

"My thoughts exactly." Duerro said.

"I'm a member of the first generation." Hibiki whispered.

Duerro nodded while saying, "Yes you are."

"I should be able to change the outcome of this. All I need to do is convince them that I am. Then this whole thing can be avoided." Hibiki boasted.

"You don't say, that would be very helpful in a time like this." Maya said.

"In any case, I'm not going to lose!" Hibiki clinched his fist tightly.

"That's what I thought." Duerro placed an arm on Hibiki's shoulder. Hibiki smiled as he thought it was some kind of brotherly guester. In a flash, chemicals ran through his body. Hibiki's world became blurry as he fought off the drugs, but in the end, they won. Hibiki hit the floor hard. Duerro smiled as he picked him up and threw him over the ledge. The Pexis glowed bright blue for a few seconds before returning to normal. "So long as they don't know he's here, we have a shot." Duerro stated.

"And the Pexis will keep him safe." Pyoro added. Pyoro floated over to Dale and Maya. "What are we going to do?" Pyoro inquired.

Bart grabbed him by the head while screaming, "You just stay here and play dead!" while attempting to hurt the little robot.

"Once Rain has been let out, he's going to pull us from the ship, and head home. He has no place in this world here. He will return to where he feels is right." Maya told them.

"And you intend to follow him?" Bart asked.

"We're Lunar Colony property; we can't stay with the like's o them." Dale answered. "In any case, this will be the last time we see each other, so have un and don't die when the enemy shows up." Dale flickered away.

"My best wishes to you all." Maya flickered away.

(-)

No sooner had the Mejarru forces left the ship, the Taraaku forces boarded it. The first place they hit was brig, knowing full well where BC would be. The men shot the locks on the pads to release the men. Rain made sure to play nice, showing them that he wasn't a threat. Rain was thankful that Parfait had repaired his Hallow Gram Generator as best she could. He was able to hide his features, but she didn't know how long it would last.

"I'm surprised they didn't eat your livers." A man said.

"I think they had enough to eat." Duerro said.

The men began praising them for surviving for so long with the women as BC walked up. The men saluted her as she walked over to the men checking Rain over. "This one was hired by the Mejarru Pirates to get them here safely. He has a fleet waiting for him in the Magnetic Storm. He has been instructed to bring back all of his gear." The men nodded as they released Rain.

"Come this way, we'll lead you to your things." A man motioned for him to follow.

"Like you know where my stuff is." Rain huffed as he shoved the man out of the way to walk out of the room.

"Pay no mind to him. The women were nice to him for some reason. They gave him his own special room." BC commented. The men gasped while glaring at the door.

The men followed BC as she left the brig, though Bart made sure to kick Pyoro as he left. As they walked through the confines of the ship, they ran back into Rain, though this time he was carrying his backpack and was making his way to the hanger.

"Where do you think you're going, traitor?" One of the men hissed. In a flash, Rain dropped his bags, pinned the man to the wall, and his sword in hand, ready to kill anyone that got in his way.

"I'm heading to the hanger to get my machine to leave this stupid hell hole. Get in my way, and I'll kill you." He hissed as he sheathed his sword. The man watched him leave with fear in his eyes.

(-)

Meia stared at the Nirvana from her position in one of he many transport pods with sad eyes. She watched as the pod that was holding the Taraaku men left the ship after the Infinite Justice shot out of the hanger, heading straight for Magnetic Storm. Meia sighed as she looked over at Barnette that had watched him leave. She knew how she felt at the moment, because she was feeling the same way. Meia rubbed the necklace that was once Alex's with sad eyes.

"Are you worried?" Magno asked Meia.

Meia looked over at Magno with a slightly stunned expression. She sighed again as she looked back out at where the Justice had last been seen. "I was just thinking… about what Hibiki or Rain would say at a time like this."

Magno chuckled. "Don't worry about it to much; it's not your style." Meia nodded sadly as she looked back out the window to where the Justice had been.

_Come back to us… please. Please come back to us… Otouto._

(-)

"What the hell?" Hibiki grunted as the drugs began to wear off. "They must have framed me." Hibiki stood up while shaking his grogginess away. Hibiki realized that he was inside the Pexis again. Parts of it had small specks of red to them, signaling that it was afraid. "Big brothers' coming, isn't he?" He whispered. The blue crystal seemed to brighten as a reply. "Don't worry, because I… am not going to lose." Hibiki shouted. The once red areas quickly changed back to blue and Hibiki suddenly found himself staring at the Pexis from the outside.

"You're awake." Pyoro gasped.

"Pyoro, what are you doing here?"

"I was left to baby sit the ship while everyone else was away. The men came and got the men a few hours ago, and Rain has gone back to his colony with Maya, Dale, and his machine."

"Alright then, let's see about getting this thing started so we can go rescue them. I don't care if I have to fight both Mejarru and Taraaku." Hibiki began walking towards the bridge.

"Wait, Barnette put a security code to prevent the men from having their way with the weapons on the ship." Hibiki stopped cold as he sank to his knees. "I'm sorry, but I don't know the password. I just figured I should state that before you asked."

"Damn her! To damn sneaky." He muttered with a grin.

(-)

Jura's pink little book went crashing to the ground. A yell of disgust followed it as it landed. "Burn it! Burn it immediately!" A woman ordered.

"Wait, you can't be serious?" Jura gasped.

"Silence Miss Elden, you witch!" The judge snapped. Jura looked at her pink book with sad eyes as it was picked up and burned before her. "Admit it, you're a witch!" The judge pointed a finger at her. "You are all witches for spreading rumors of a so called "Harvest" and for working with men."

"We only worked with one to make sure we got home. His people only wanted to make sure we got home." Magno interrupted her before she could continue.

"You are still sentenced to prison for spreading lies about this "Harvest"." She snapped back.

"We really didn't know about that." Magno replied. "His people have been at war with a group calling themselves that, and have watched as countless worlds like our own have been consumed by this minus for their body parts."

"What goes on outside our world is none of our concern." She seethed.

Misty was sitting next to Dita with a large scowl on her face. She eyed the reaction of those around them, seeing that they didn't know anything about the Harvest. She leaned over to Dita to whisper, "I don't think these people have been told about it," before continuing to look at their reaction.

"So it would seem." Meia whispered. Misty looked at her with a slightly shocked expression.

"What are we going to do?" Misty whispered.

"There's nothing we can do." Barnette replied.

"I here by order that all of Magno Vidan's Pirate crew, be thrown in prison for life!" The Judge roared. Everyone looked back at the woman's hate filled eyes. "This court is adjourned." She slowly began to walk away.

"You don't understand anything!" The Judge stopped to turn and glare at Dita what was being held back by two guards. Parfait began worrying as the guards threatened her. "You think we're lying?! We're not! The Harvest is right around the corner. If you do this, then there won't be anything to stop them from succeeding in their goals to rob us of OUR body parts! You say we're the blind ones, I say it's you that is blind! If you don't open them soon, we'll be lost forever!" Dita cried.

The Judge looked at her with stunned eyes before turning away. "Court is already augured." She whispered while walking away.

Dita fell back into her chair, crying over her failed attempt to change hearts. A pair of hands slowly grabbed hers. "Don't worry Dita, you did good." Misty whispered into her ear. "That was beautiful."

"You think?" Dita sobbed.

"Yes."

(-)

The men were treated no better. After being back home for only three hours, they were instantly thrown into prison to be "Reeducated". This "Reeducation" was being held in an underground facility where their idea of "Reeducating" them was to use whips on Bart while Duerro was forced to watch from the sidelines.

"Say it!" Growled the guard as his whip cracked over Bart's skin again. Bart cried out in pain as his skin was ripped off with each new lashing he received. "Damn it! Say it! Say it!" The man yelled again as his whip continued to pull off Bart's skin.

"Bart…" Duerro grumbled while trying to look away.

"Come on, all you have to say is three little words." His guard cooed. "Say it! Say "Hail Lord Grandpa" and you two will be free." He cooed. "If you were a real man, you'd save your fellow man, wouldn't you?" Duerro glared at the man. "I see the women have brainwashed you quite well. Don't worry; we'll have you fixed in no time."

"You're wrong…" Duerro gasped. "It's only through working with women that I have found my reason to live." The man spat at him while readying his whip. "It's only though them that I've found an interest in life."

"I'll show your body some interest in life!" The man yelled as he was about to bring down his whip.

The door to the chamber opened up, stopping the two men cold in their tracks. Temeni walked into the room with a scowl on his face. "How's the debriefing coming along?" He asked.

"Not good. They've been thoroughly tainted by the women." The whip wielding man said. Bart glared at her from behind his guard that said that. Temeni just walked over towards them.

"Come to betray another part of your history?" Duerro snarled. The man hit Duerro in the face with the handle of his whip.

Temeni just raised a brow while walking over to Bart. Bart was stripped of his shirt, and covered with cuts and bruises. "My feelings for you will never change." He hissed. "I'll admit it, that I fell in love with you when you were a woman!"

Temeni just smiled as she held his hand out. "Give me the whip." He ordered. The man near Bart did so with a smile. "Now, watch closely. THIS IS HOW YOU USE A WHIP!" He stated. Bart closed his eyes as he awaited the pain to course through his body again. Two loud cracks were heard a few seconds later, followed by three loud thumps, the last one being the guard she disposed of at the door. Bart opened one eye after feeling no pain. The two guards lay on the ground and out cold. "I don't why they would give me another medal. I have enough on my chest as it is." He threw the new medal away while walking back to Bart. He pressed his voice chip with a smile. "I love you too, Bart." She whispered. Bart smiled as the voice of the woman he loved came back to him. BC kissed him on the lips, much to her, and Bart's, enjoyment. "Come, Hibiki is waiting." She told them while releasing them.

(-)

Magno and her crew walked through the prison hallways with sad expression. Meia had already had a few people throw items at her, since she had been in her a few times in her past. The others had a few items thrown at them, but nothing to serious. As they slowly got the open cells, a woman asked, "Hey, you're Magno Vidan, aren't you?" while gripping her cell bars. Magno smiled and nodded in reply. "It is you!" She cried. Women began screaming for her to take them with her. Saying that they wanted to help out in anyway they could. Everyone began smiling at the sight while the guards began trying to calm everyone down.

As soon as they women were calmed down, Magno and her crew were thrown into their cells with an added kick to Meia's backside. Meia glared at the guard, as she said, "Teme!" The guard spun around, not understand what she just said. "Look it up!" She seethed. The woman walked away and was soon patrolling the cells. She made sure to keep an eye on Meia, since she knew just what she was capable of.

The guards continued to smile at the captured pirate crew, that was until the sirens began blaring loudly. The women were now in a panic attack as they were shot by their own weapons, knocked out by shadowy figures, and had most of their fighters disabled and left floating in space. The guards that were patrolling the cells quickly began heading for the door to help, but as soon as they got to them, they were knocked out by laser blasts, in stormed several people wearing Mejarru Trooper gear. Two of them stopped in front of Magno and pulled their masks off.

"Greetings Captain." One of them said.

"Who are they?" Misty questioned.

"They're the ranking officers that we left behind! That's Rebecca!" Dita yelled with a large grin on her face. The pirate crew was quickly released, along side with everyone in the cells, all screaming for joy.

"Rebecca!" Ezra called. Rebecca walked in front of Ezra with a smile as she held up Kahlua. "Kahlua, this is your Ouma. Say hi." She said with a large smile.

Magno walked up to them with a grin. "Captain, we need to get out of here! Let's head back to the Paraiso, and head back to the hideout." 

"No. We're taking back our ship. It's totally out of this world." Magno told her with a large grin.

(-)

A space shuttle took off from the Taraaku surface, heading straight for the Nirvana.

(-)

The pirate crew was met with a large fleet that was doing everything they could to defend their ship. The pirate crew was outnumbered, but not out classed. The Dread pilots were able to take out about five fighters without having any problems, but the only problem was keeping them away from the Paraiso. Meia, Barnette, Dita, Jura, Ezra, and Magno all watched from the Bridge next to Rebecca that was ordering the pilots to hurry up. No matter how hard they tried, the men seemed to be able to outwit them at every turn. The men were using numbers, rather than skill. That was their weakness, but they kept coming at them, no matter how many of them were killed.

"This isn't good." Meia said. "At this rate, we won't be able to make it to the Nirvana. Captain, we need to pull back for now."

"No, we can do it." Rebecca stated. "We can beat them. I know we can." She whispered.

"I agree with Rebecca." Magno said with a grin. Meia and Barnette looked at her with confused, but fearful eyes as they looked back out at the battlefield. So far, they had only lost one Dread pilot, but one was too many in their terms. Things still seemed to be looking bad since the men had three Father Ships guarding the Nirvana. One of them was the Todoroki, making things rather difficult.

The women all began screaming for the Paraiso to move away. The crew all gasped in fear as a single Vanguard appeared in front of the bridge with an energy lance. Everyone turned away as the mech pushed his weapon forward. A small explosion filled their ears, causing them to turn back. What they saw was one of the strangest sights to that of the Paraiso crew. A red mech, that could only be identified as the Infinite Justice was in front of them while the Vanguard was left floating without its arms or head.

"Rain…" Meia whispered.

"…came back…" Barnette added.

"…to help us!" Dita finished. Dale appeared in front of the crew, stunning everyone but the Nirvana crew. "Dale!" Dita cried.

"What's up toots?" Dale asked with his perverted grin. "Looks like you got yourself in some serious shit. You want us to help you out?" Dale stated as he looked around the bridge for a few seconds.

"Dale, you can use the letter F now." Dita gasped.

"Yeah, numb nuts finally fixed me. I guess I have this little episode to think since he got some free time to finally do so without having something to interrupt him." He gestured Barnette with his thumb.

"Yes. We would like some help, and what the hell was that supposed to mean." Barnette snapped while glaring at the AI. Dale just raised his hands before flickering away, and then returning.

"He said he was going to help you without even being told to." Dale moaned.

"Um… Captain, what is that?" Rebecca motioned Dale.

"He's a very good friend of that pilot. He's rude, but he's the smartest AI of the four AI's." Magno answered before turning to face Dale. "I take it that Maya is still with him at the moment." Dale nodded. "Okay then, take control of the ship until we reach the Nirvana. Try to get us out of this alive." She told him.

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded while connecting himself to the ships systems.

(-)

The green eyes of the Justice had yet to move from the three ships that loomed in the distance. For those that were now close enough to see the machine, they began freaking out, screaming that Red Demon had come back. Rain had set his radio to all channel broadcast and receiving, to listen to what everyone was saying. He wasn't too surprised at the size of force he was up against, but he was more surprised at what he was hearing. Hew knew everything that happened over Taraaku, and as to what they were saying, was what had him totally confused. Pushing the thought from his mind, he pushed forward on his controls while targeting the heads and arms of all the enemy mechs that were in his field of fire. Ten units went down when he pulled the trigger.

"This is hard for you, isn't it?" Maya asked. She appeared beside him, staring at the force before them.

"No, I just don't want to kill them. I don't mind fighting them. But fighting them without killing them isn't something I was trained on how to do." He replied. He pushed forward on his controls to send the Justice straight at the fleet. "I will make them see with opened eyes before this day ends." He declared. Maya nodded as she disappeared.

The Dread teams all began hanging back as the red mech went barreling towards the three male ships, slicing anything that dared to get in his way apart. The pilots had never expected to be saved by an unknown machine, let alone a man. They figured they'd watch his actions from the side line while he dealt with the Taraaku forces. As Rain approached the first Father Ship, he suddenly stopped and pointed his rifle at the bridge of it. The men all stopped as his voice came over the net.

"This is Project Epsilon, ID tag 1290845. I am the pilot for Lunar Colony X108999. My name is Rain Epsilon Switchfoot, pilot of the ZGMF X19A Infinite Justice. I hear by order you all to stand down." Rain stated.

Everyone stopped to wait for their orders. Everyone could hear the men on the ships screaming out orders to see if that was true. When the information came back, the Vanguards took aim at Rain. Rain smiled as the enemy decided to take him down, rather than shoot down the pirates.

"If you really are the Epsilon Project, where have you been?" A voice asked.

Rain smiled as his face appeared on the Paraiso and three male ships. His features were visible again, stunning the man that had been pinned to the wall by him. "Do you think I'd tell someone like you?" Rain replied.

"Open…"

"If you order your men to fire at me… or the pirate ship that is only trying to take back what is rightfully theirs, I'll kill you." Rain interrupted the man. The man could be heard growling.

"Stand down." The man ordered.

"A real man shows no fear in battle. For you to order your men to stand down, just to protect your own life, is really pathetic." Rain said. He could hear the man growling. "You are going to allow the women to take back their ship, and head back to their place. If you fail to allow this, I'll start killing everyone here."

"Never mind, shoot that ship down!" All the Vanguards began heading for the Paraiso. Rain growled and spun around, firing as he went, disabling everything that was within rang. He blasted off, surprisingly getting in front of the men before they could get within striking distance of the ship.

"I will not let you kill them." Rain had attained an icy tone to his voice. Meia and Barnette gasped at his sudden change. They had never heard him sound so cold in their lives. The men didn't seem to care as they tried to get around him. Every time they did, they would get disabled by Rain's rifle. "I'll say it again; I will not let you kill them." Rain repeated.

"You've been tainted by the women!" Some of the pilots yelled. Rain quickly shot them down while more and more men began yelling at him, saying he wasn't a true man.

Rain just started laughing, surprising everyone at that point. His laughter was one of the last things anyone expected. "You think I'm blind?" Rain laughed. "I have seen far more things than you could imagine. I've seen the kindness of a real sibling that truly cares for another. I've felt the warmth of a woman's touch. I've even slept with one. You call me blind because I'm helping them? I say you're blind for not seeing what truly could be."

"What are you talking about? Everyone knows that women are evil monsters that kill during the night. They never fight far, and they used us in the past." The male growled.

Rain started laughing again. "Let me make this clear." Rain's eyes and voice iced over. "You can not hate someone because they point a finger or say so. If you do that, then you might as well just stop living. That's the wrong thing to do. You need to find a reason to hate that person on your own. You only hate them because you don't understand them, because someone said so. I found my reason for hating certain people on that ship and now I don't mind being with them because I found reason to like them."

(-)

"He's talking about you two." Meia laughed as she pointed to Jura and Barnette. Jura just turned away with a loud "Hmph" while Barnette went red in the face over his choice of words about feeling a woman's touch.

(-)

Rain had stopped after telling the men that he wouldn't allow them to kill the crew again, and was now just waiting for the men to make another stupid mistake. The men however, were waiting for Rain to do something stupid. Surprisingly, the stand still had been interrupted by Magno ordering Dale to push forward towards their ship. The men instantly went back on the attack, and Rain went back to disabling them. Dale forced the ship through a series of barrel rolls to avoid the Father Ships' weaponry, something that Rain quickly disabled when he got within rang. Once the Paraiso was behind the enemy, Rain began taking out the thrusters on the three Flag Ships. Rain released his jet pack to let it crash through the first ships' thrusters before heading to the second.

"Rain, we need help!" Magno yelled over the radio. Rain quickly changed course while leaving his jet pack on a collision course with the second Flag Ships' thrusters. Rain quickly shot down the fighters and went back to pick up his pack. Once he was attached to it again, he watched the men fire off two large missiles as a last attempt since Maya had taken control of the pack to disable the last Flag Ship's thrusters.

"Evade them!" The Dread pilots began yelling as they attempted to shoot them down. The missiles took no damage as they continued to head on course towards the Paraiso. Rain aimed his rifle and began firing at the missiles. The missiles still took no damage. Rain appeared in front of the missiles to try and block them. Rain instantly lost control of his machine as Maya took control. He pulled out the beam boomerang and threw it towards the missiles. A loud explosion took place a few seconds later, signaling that it worked. The men slumped down in their chairs as they saw the Paraiso and Justice unharmed.

"I will not let you kill Kobito or Meia-nee-chan!" Rain yelled as he fired at the remaining men that dared to test their luck against him. The men stopped their attacks as the Paraiso docked with the Nirvana and let is troops back into it. Rain smiled from inside his machine as he went into guard mode to stop anything that dared to get near the ship.

(-)

The doors to the dry dock opened up to reveal Hibiki sitting a on a box, eating the lunch that Dita had made for him before she was arrested. He licked his fingers as he said, "This stuff isn't half bad even when it's cold" with a grin on his face.

Pyoro went whizzing by Dita as she said, "Mr. Alien, you weren't supposed to eat the whole thing," with a big smile on her face.

"Can't fight on an empty stomach." He replied.

"Don't worry; I'll make you something better." Dita chanted as she ran down to the kitchen.

"Even in the middle of combat…" Hibiki moaned as Barnette walked over to him. "Hey, we're sitting ducks out here! We need to get this thing moving before those idiots attempt to board us. Unlock the damn security code."

"Oh, you don't know it?" Barnette began punching in a few letters on her PDA. "The password is quite simple." She showed him the password. "Smile." She said.

The lights quickly began turning on, giving life to the ship again. Everyone quickly ran to their posts while those that didn't have anything to really do, meaning the pilots, took a slower pace. Meia stopped in front of Hibiki. "Are you ready?" She questioned.

"Yeah." Hibiki said with a nod.

(-)

The bridge bunnies all got back to their posts while checking the systems of the ship. Once they gave the all clear, they prepared to receive the pod that was coming from behind the disabled Taraaku ships.

"Well, what a day." Magno said with a grin. "Captured, judged, thrown in jail, meeting old friends, and taking back our ship. What a life this is turning out to be." She mussed.

A few minutes later, in walked Bart with a salute. "Bart Garsuss, reporting as ordered." He said with a smile.

"My goodness Bart, what did they do to you?" Magno asked, as she looked at all the red lipstick marks on his face. Bart rubbed the back of his head while stuttering a few words before he just pointed to the door way. A small strand of silver could be seen. Bart ran to the helm to connect himself to the ship again. "I don't remember re-leaving you of your post. Or is my age starting to catch up to me?" Magno said.

Temeni flinched under her gaze as she walked back out with a stunned expression. "You're not angry at me?" she asked.

"To forgive or to blame? I'm correct in assuming you came back to us as Bosom, yes?" BC nodded slowly. "Very well, but however, could you go back to that sweet little tone of yours. You almost broke poor Bart's heart with that other one." She said.

BC nodded and quickly pressed her jewel again, changing her voice back to the female tone. Ezra smiled as BC walked up to her station. "Commander, your orders?"

BC nodded as she threw her Taraaku uniform away. "All Nirvana crew, prepare to bust through the Taraaku fleet to head back to the hideout. Ezra, get a connection to Rebecca. Celtic, tell me about the ships' status." BC continued to bark out orders as they began heading for their hideout. Rain was still outside, shooting anything that dared to get near the ships.

(-)

The Nirvana docked with the side of their hideout which was in the asteroid field between Taraaku and Mejarru. The whole thing was nothing more than one big asteroid that was lined with secret passages, quarters, kitchens, and one meeting room. Everyone was in the hanger, waiting for Rain to leave his machine. Barnette was standing beside Meia with a grin on her face as the hatch opened up. Dale appeared beside Meia, shaking his head.

"He took no damage." Varoa said. Meia nodded as she watched Rain walk over to them with a huge grin on his face. His features were still visible, causing a few of the women to arm themselves with weapons.

"Welcome back." Dita greeted as she gave him a hug. Rain returned the hug with a smile on his face Barnette approached him.

"Nice to know that prison didn't change you too much." Rain joked. Barnette shook her head at his words while placing an arm around his waist to bring him closer to her so she could kiss him. The women of the Paraiso crew were speechless. "Nice to see you missed me just as much as I missed you." He joked.

"Shut up…" Barnette told him as she placed another kiss on him.

Meia shook her head while wrapping both of her arms around their necks. "You two can have fun later. Captain's asked us to rest up for tomorrows meeting. That means no funny business." Meia pointed to Rain. Rain just smiled as he and Barnette walked off, hand in hand. _Alex, I wish you were here. _


	14. Call to arms

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 14 Call to Arms

"Let's get this meeting underway." Rebecca ordered as she took a seat. "What is this, "Harvest" thing have to do with us?"

Magno coughed before she started. "They come from my true home world, and are bent on getting our body parts. They want our reproductive body parts."

"What kind of fighters do they have? How much trouble can they cause?" Varoa asked.

"They destroyed an entire Melanos fleet without taking a single scratch!" Hibiki told her. Rebecca looked down at him with a bit of worry.

"How big was it?" Varoa questioned.

"They had a large fleet. It had about twelve Carriers that were filled to the rim with fighters." Hibiki told her.

"What about reinforcements?" Rebecca questioned.

"My mother will come. I know she will." Rain told her. Rebecca looked at him with confusion in her eyes. "I may be from Taraaku, but have no ties to that damn world. The only reason I'm here is to complete my mission." Rain told her.

"So all we have is two pirate ships and the hopes that his mother shows up." Rebecca asked. Rain shot her a dirty look for the way she said that. "I'm sorry, but I don't know this mother of yours, but I doubt she has a strong enough force to help us."

"For the record, _Rebecca_," and there was no respect in the way he said her name. "…my mother happens to be the woman that was shot when she appeared nearly six years ago. I'm her adopted child. She never breaks a promise, especially when one of her children is on the line."

"Wait, you are the Epsilon project?!" Rebecca gasped.

"Rain, don't." Meia warned. Rain looked away while muttering something in Japanese. "She is not a dirty whore." She whispered. Rain flinched at her words, momentarily forgetting that she knew Japanese to. "You forgot that, didn't you?" Rain grumbled something. "Yes, he is the Epsilon project, and his mother will show up. I know she will."

"But we might have to hold off the enemy with our own forces until they show up. We're hoping that we can get our worlds to work together somehow." Magno told her.

"Okay, so all we need to do is bust into the chamber of the Mother, and the Hall of the Father. We'll make them see things our way." Rebecca stated.

"That may not be necessary." Magno grinned. "I know a back door."

(-)

Jin Tokai had never really liked the Hall of Fathers. It was just too old for his tastes. Statues of old men before they were really old were not something he liked seeing. Two silent sentinels stood tall, not once looking at the item in Jin's left hand. The men nodded as he walked through the doors they opened for him. He soon stood in the center of the Hall of the Father's, staring up at seven lights that revealed seven of the oldest men on Taraaku. The center throne lit up, revealing a gnarled man with age stained fingers with a long beard.

"What are you doing here, Jin? You promised to watch over all the sleepers underground." One of the men said.

"Father Garsuss, I've come to show you this." Jin raised his package up, showing it to be a small potted plant. "Look, even on this desert world such as ours, something is finally starting to sprout." He exclaimed.

"I was awoken to see a potted plant?" One of the others groaned.

"This plant is best chance we have for survival." Jin stated.

"Jin…!"

"Grandpa, he is only trying to help us survive." Garsuss stated. "Isn't that right, Jin?" Jin nodded as he put the plant on the ground.

"You better believe it!" A female voice said. A screen popped up, revealing an old woman in robes with a visor to block her face from view.

"Grandma…!" Grandpa gasped in astonishment. "It's been…"

"Nearly a century." Jin reminded. "Back then we were all young men and women that still lived together. Had hopes for a beautiful future, unlike now." 

"So what does the leader of the women want with us?" Another man questioned.

"I believe there is someone you want to talk to on the other channel." Grandma could be seen messing with something on screen. Another screen opened up, revealing Magno. "This is Magno, the pirate leader."

"Magno?" Jin questioned. A smile soon formed on his old face as he raised his arms out as if to greet an on rushing child. "Why yes, it is our little Magno. Oh this brings me back."

"Uncle Jin, it sure is good to see you. I remember you playing with me on the ship. Those were such good times." Magno said with a smile.

"So you're Magno, the pirate leader." A man snapped. "And what does the pirate leader want with us?"

"I'm a member of the first generation aren't I? I thought I'd pitch in my two cents as well. Besides, I have someone very special fighting for us." Magno said with a grin. She pressed something on her control panel.

Another screen appeared, revealing Hibiki from inside his machine. "Hey Gramps!" He greeted with a smile. "I've made some friends now."

"You _do _look a little different, now that you mention it." Jin said with a smile.

"My name is Hibiki Tokai." Grandpa dropped his scepter. Hibiki's sudden appearance was surprising enough, but his message to everyone was another. His messaged was broadcasted on both worlds, and neighboring worlds as well. Ships stopped to stare at the young boy and listen to his message. Citizens on both worlds stopped to stare at the strange boy as he continued to give his speech. The crew of the Nirvana and Paraiso stood on standby just incase the Harvesters' decided to crash in on the confusion. "I'll fight, to keep the river of life flowing on!" Hibiki's golden machine flew out of the hanger with Dita's Dread following it. A flash of light, and Vandread Dita was born, surprising everyone.

"Has he no shame?" A man hissed.

Another screen opened up, appearing on both worlds. Rain's face appeared, causing some people to wonder, especially when a second screen opened up to show a red machine waiting for something. "Rain Epsilon Switchfoot, Infinite Justice, Kicking off!" Rain yelled as a familiar red machine, once known as the Red Demon, flew out of the hanger and towards Meia's Dread and Barnette's Delivery Craft.

"Alert, we've got a large unidentified object exiting the Magnetic Storm!" Ezra yelled. Alarms began blaring loudly onboard the two pirate ships.

"No mistaking it! A Harvest Flag Ship!" Celtic added.

"Impossible! How'd they get this close to us undetected?" BC yelled.

"They somehow managed to get the Nirvana's recognition code! That makes it harder to identify!" Amarone shouted.

"What a nasty bunch." Magno grunted.

"Follow my lead everyone! I'll take care of them!" Barnette and Rain yelled in unison as they began charging the golden mammoth.

"Well, still the same old hot head as always. Didn't I tell you that was a bad habit?" Two voices said in unison. Rain and Barnette put their thrusters in reverse as they stopped just a few seconds before they would hit the large ship.

"That… that voice!" Rain and Barnette gasped.

"Miss Gascgo!" Dita yelled.

"Raider!" Rain yelled.

Two faces appeared on screen. One was Gascgone sitting in a large chair with a smile on her face. The other was a man with long rusty red hair, tanned skin, and a black bandana over his right eye. His single yellow eye was a strange sight to the women.

"It's not Gascgo, its Gascgone!" Gascgone raised a fist to add more emphasis to the correct name.

"Yep, that's Miss Gascgo alright." Ezra said with a grin.

"Raider, I though you were a dead! How the hell did you survive!" Rain screamed. Raider just laughed as he pulled out a small pink book labeled, Prison Lesbian Stories, volume three. "Gascgone, how in the seven hells did you put up with him?" Rain questioned.

"It was fun!" She replied with a big grin as she looked over at the book. Rain palmed himself as he watched her giggle at the book.

"Yeah, we had a lot of fun, but I think this is going to be funner." Raider said as twenty large ships appeared out of cloaking.

"Funner's not even a word!" Rain growled.

"Shotgun!" Dale and Maya screamed in unison. "Damn it all!" Dale growled while Maya screamed for joy. "Fine, but I get the next ship!" Dale shouted.

"What are you two arguing about?" Magno questioned.

"That ship that's in the center of the fleet is the Archangel!" Maya said as she vanished from screen for a few seconds before reappearing. "I got control of the ship." She chanted.

(-)

"Welcome back!" The girls in the Registry room sang as Gascgone and Raider walked in. Raider was wearing a simple black trench coat with no shirt and a pair of simple black leather pants. On his back was a long scythe that was blood red in color.

The girls all got out of her way as the two walked towards Barnette. Barnette just smiled at the two. "Thanks a lot girl, now you just go out and give them hell." Gascgone ordered. Barnette lowered her head to hide her tears of happiness as she ran through them. "Alright girls…"

"Miss Gascgo, thank you… for staying alive." Barnette said. Gascgone nodded as she looked over at Raider. Barnette ran out of the room as Gascgone walked over to Raider.

"You know I can't do anything since you have the greatest thing I treasure the most locked away." Raider said.

"I thought my body was the greatest thing you liked." Gascgone joked as she left with Raider.

(-)

"Alright Raider, you can go out and give them hell, quite literally I guess." Gascgone said as her Delivery craft reappeared. "Just come back to me, okay?" She whispered.

"I'm the God of Death! I ain't going to die until I've killed my set number of bodies!" He replied as her craft opened one of its compartments. A large black mech sat at the edge of the crate. "Raider Katon, DeathScythe Hell, Killing time again!" Raider yelled as his machine blasted off towards the Justice.

"Righty, right. I heard there was going to be some kind of a show around here." Rabat said.

"Rabat?" Hibiki questioned.

"Thanks to all the markers you left us, you might even find a few spectators around." A display of Sera and her body guards appeared while on Oosa, Tatanka, and Utan appeared on another.

"There's another fleet approaching! This one is directly behind Rabat's fleet now!" Amarone stated.

"Another fleet?" Magno questioned.

"This is that Anti Earth Fleet of Melanos. We've come to show our respect for Hibiki Tokai."

"Melanos…" Hibiki whispered. 

"That's the planet that has been harvested for their skins." BC stated. "Its not surprising that they would want to come and help him."

"They've come to reclaim the souls of those they lost." Magno stated.

A display of Ryu appeared on screen. "Ryu Ringan, Destiny, Let's do it!" The red winged machine went, flying out of one of the Smuggler Ships, heading straight for the Justice. "It's good to see you're still kicking. I was wondering if I'd get a chance to fight beside you."

"Same here. I just hope that Okaa-san and Zoey-nee-chan show up to help. I don't know if we'll be enough." Rain replied.

"This is Todoroki, Flag Ship of the Taraaku Empire. We wish to join forces with you in this." The admiral saluted Magno on screen, totally forgetting the male superstitions.

Another screen appeared with a man smoking a big cigar and wearing a pair of pilot goggles. "My name is Ozeki Kyumei; I lead a special group of attack Vanguards. We would like the honor of being the first to attack." His light blue machine appeared at the front of the fleet swinging its energy naginata around as its solitary eye lit up.

"Men are all so dumb." Misty said flatly with a goofy expression on her face. Que-chan bobbed up and down, showing that it agreed with her.

"This is the Mejarru Boarder Guard; can we offer some assistance as well?"

"Wow, they're all coming out of the wood work, now aren't they?" Ezra questioned.

"Shadow Pirate crew, this is your Captain speaking, deploy all Dom Squadrons now." Raider ordered. As if waiting for the order themselves, hundreds of black and blue mechs, came flying out of that large fleet beside the golden giant.

"I never thought I'd see the day when your pirates would actually listen to you." Rain joked.

"It's amazingly simple to manipulate a man." Gascgone remarked. Rain and Ryu started laughing as all the Dom pilots started shouting "Hell yeah" at the top of their lungs. A few women could be heard saying, "If only it was that easy to control Raider" causing Raider to chuckle while brining out his perverted book on screen.

"Are you actually going to read that while we fight?" Ryu questioned.

"No. I'm not that… booby's!" Ryu and Rain palmed themselves as he started drooling and giggling like a school girl.

"I think I see now why your mother doesn't like that guy." Ryu groaned.

The alarms once again began blaring as three Harvester Flag Ships punched through the Magnetic Storm. "Don't worry, the minefield will stop them." Ozeki said.

A large explosion rocked across the minefield. Everyone held their breaths as they waited for the news. They certainly weren't too surprised when the data came in, saying that the middle one had used itself as a dummy to attract all the mines to itself, allowing the other two, to pass through safely. Before they came into firing rang, they released all their Carriers, Cube Types, and clones. Bart started yelling at the enemy about suing them for making a clone of him again.

Ozeki just grinned as he said; "Look at that," as he pushed forward on his controls. The first thing he ran into was a Jura clone. The clone opened its mouth in an attempt to shoot him, but Ozeki dove under its mouth and went upward, jamming his weapon into the underbelly of the beast before spinning like a top to send it crashing into a nearby carrier. He made sure it was dead by shooting it with a laser blast from his wrist. "Alright, follow me, boys!" He beckoned.

"We gotta stop them this time!" Hibiki stated he armed both of his cannons. Two tubes of energy plowed through several Cube Types and a few Carriers. As the fire receded, the clones came out in force, tearing everything apart that was near them. Gascgone evened the odds by releasing her own little toys with a grin on her face. Golden Cube Types began tearing the enemy forces apart with zombie like obedience.

"Launch the attack!" Meia barked. The Dread teams blasted off towards the enemy, all chanting the Mejarru fight song as they went to battle.

"Time to bleed!" Raider yelled as his wings opened up, making his already strange appearance, stranger. For those that were there six years ago, they immediately remembered his machines, especially when its scythe appeared. Raider flew up beside six clones with one swing.

"Let's do this!" Rain yelled as he pulled out his beam saber to slash two clones in half. He blasted off towards the largest hoard of enemy units in his area.

"I'll break all of you!" Ryu yelled as he blasted his large cannon a few times. Seven long red blasts were shot from his weapon, tearing everything they came into contact with, apart. Ryu then blasted off toward another area that was filled with clones. He grinned as he pulled out his Anti Ship Sword, to slice four clones with one swing.

"Aim Hell Darts and fire!" Maya barked as the Archangel fired off its rounds into a nearby group of enemies.

Magno and BC smiled at the sight of their comrades fighting before them. It was a sight that they never would have dreamed of. "Looks like they all still have some elbow room."

"Yes, I'd say we have a bright future ahead of us." BC added with a grin.

(-)

Hibiki continued his charge, smacking anything that dared to get in his path towards the first Flag Ship. "Out of my way!" He yelled as he swatted two Dita clones away, before stabbing the last one through the torso. A fourth one appeared on the other side of them. Hibiki just slammed the other cannon onto his wrist, and shooting the two clones away. A Nirvana clone appeared in front of the, attempting to smack them down with its massive arm. Hibiki and Dita forced the combination between the large claw like hand, to avoid the attack while dodging its red pelts that were shot from its core. The two teens forced their cannons to their shoulders to fire down on its head. The impact stunned them, momentarly shutting their systems down. The large clone took its chance to destroy them as it began charging up its core to fire at them. The two teens watched as red fire erupted from the core, and two Dread units appeared beside them.

"It's Meia, and Varoa!" Dita exclaimed.

"You're just as much of a headache as always." Varoa said.

"Why thank you, with them around we're much more annoying." Meia mocked with a grin.

"What the… did you just smile?" Varoa gasped.

"Well you see… we're all different people than what we used to be." Jura told her as he Dread appeared over head.

"Is that because of the men?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that."

"Watch out or we'll leave you behind!" Barnette stated as she flew ahead of the group.

"Kobito, watch out!" Rain exclaimed. Barnette looked up to see the damaged Dita clone aiming its weapons at her. A volley of machinegun fire range down on the enemy clone, destroying it before it could attack. Rain looked at where the fire had come from to see two Dita clones about to blast him. Raider watched as a Dita clone charged up its cannons in front him after getting the jump on him. Rain had a blue blur fly above them to slice them in half. Raider was saved by a dragon head that had him laughing.

"Since when does the God of Death, need saving?" Suki questioned. Raider smirked at the sight of Nataku as it pulled its Dragon Fang back.

"For the record, I could have taken it. But it's good to know I have a little insurance incase of emergence." He commented.

"Are you okay, Rain?" Willow asked as Sandrock looked up at him. Rain smiled as the Justice nodded. Two other clones tried to get between them, but a single blast of yellow energy from above them had everyone looking up to see one large fleet, and the famous Wing Zero armed with its famous Twin Buster rifle.

Rain took one look at the weapon, and noticed that it was now a Triple Barrel Buster rifle. Three clones flew towards her at separate angles, hoping to take her down. The Triple Barrel Buster rifle suddenly split, surprising everyone as it aimed itself in three different directions before being fired to kill the three enemies. "Okaa-san! Aunt Suki! Aunt Willow! I can't believe you actually came!" Rain exclaimed.

"Of course we came! You think I'd leave you with these barbarians?!" Asaugi asked.

"To think that we of all people would return to this place of sin." Blood commented as HeavyArms appeared in front of the Justice and Sandrock.

"Look on the bright side. At least this time we're here to carry out a mission of peace while helping them." Suki commented.

"Indeed" Willow remarked.

(-)

Maya and Dale stared in awe at the sight before them. They knew their own military strength, but knowing was completely different unless you saw the size itself. Three hundred ships had appeared directly above the battlefield, catching everyone off guard. Spark had joined them on the Nirvana a few seconds after he arrived with the Smuggler Fleet, and he too was a little stunned by the sight. Cole had appeared beside the three AI's smiling as Spark and Dale screamed "Shotgun" both aiming to get the Minerva and Dominion. Once the fight was settled, the both flickered away, and then reappeared with smiles on their faces.

"Looks like she made it after all." Dale commented. Maya nodded her head as she watched the Zeta, Double Zeta, and Murasame's appeared out of the fleet, tearing anything that got in their way, apart.

"I got the Minerva!" Dale chanted as he jumped up and down for joy.

"Aim Hell Darts and fire." Spark ordered as the Dominion fired its weapons.

(-)

With the new arrivals, the already worn torn fighters were refueled with renewed strength to show their strength in front of the new fighters. Blood was leading a fleet of Double Zeta mobile suits towards the front lines to shoot down anything that got in their way towards the first Flag Ship. Suki and Willow were leading three squadrons of Zeta mobile suits, slicing anything that got to close to the ships. Anything that got by them, were quickly shot down by a combination of Dom mobile suits, Taraaku Space Turrets, and Zaku Gunners with deadly accuracy. Asaugi was leading the entire Murasame mobile suits, tearing and shooting anything that got in between them, and the Infinite Justice.

"Rain, looks like all your praying paid off." Barnette whispered.

"Indeed, Kobito." Rain replied while heading towards her machine.

"Rain, we need to forget the weak ones. Let's hit the Flag Ships!" Meia announced. A flashed of light had Vandread Meia being formed, surprising a few people in the area.

"Awesome, even Meia?!" Varoa gasped.

"You haven't even seen the scariest one yet. Wait till you get a load of it." Jura stated with a grin on her face.

"Hey, who said _it's _the meanest?" Pyoro inquired, narrowing his eyes on Jura.

"Ow be quiet!" She snapped.

(-)

Ozeki was in the heart of the battlefield, leading what troops had made it that far towards the closest Flag Ship. He punched a clone in the face, sending it crashing into a nearby Carrier before shooting it with his laser. He pushed forward towards the Flag Ship, but a speeding blur crashed into his back, sending his Naginata flying away. One Cube Type appeared on his machine, eating away at his hatch. Ozeki smiled as he got ready for his fate, but a small explosion robbed him of his death.

"What are you doing all the way up here, you crazy old timer?" Hibiki asked.

Ozeki growled as he looked at his savior. "Buzz off. You may laugh and think this machine of mine is pretty strange." Ozeki raised up his arm to show off some of his battle scars. "When you get these, I'll start listening to you. It takes work to know how to live. Dieing is the easy part." He remarked as he lowered his arm. Hibiki and Meia both nodded. "Now, let's get back in there!" He cheered. Vandread Meia released him, letting him get back to his work.

(-)

Ryu was having a hard time. He was up against three of each clone. He had already taken care of two Nirvana clones by utilizing his palm blasters to destroy its head, then chest, and then anything that still held it together. Two Dita clones had already fallen after thinking his sword wasn't very strong. One Meia clone had fallen when he threw his two beam boomerangs. Three Jura clones fell after trying to block his large cannon, but found it to be stronger than what they had expected.

Ryu growled as he flew over a Dita clone and placed his palm on the center of its back before quickly ripping it away as it exploded. A Meia clone appeared to break him in two, but Ryu spun around while ripping one of his beam boomerangs from its holding to slice the clone in half before throwing it at a Jura clone that was in front of another Meia clone. The weapon destroyed both of them before returning to destroy a Dita clone. As Ryu caught the weapon, he spun around and fired his cannon at point blank rang in the core of a Nirvana clone, destroying it in one shot. The second Nirvana clone tried to shoot him with its missile like lasers, but Ryu was able to dodge every beam, while shooting the last Dita clone before throwing his two beam boomerangs to destroy the last Jura clone. Ryu pushed forward while charging up his palm laser before crashing it into its head. The clone looked up at him with stunned eyes before it exploded. Ryu continued by piercing it with his Anti Ship Sword, killing it instantly. The final clone appeared from inside the flames of its dead twin while firing a wave of beams. Ryu growled as the beam appeared and brought up his shield to block the shot. He reinforced it with the same blue barrier as the Infinite Justice's, and once again, the beams won the fight, tearing his machine apart. Ryu yelled as his cockpit began exploding from the sudden erratic damage it sustained.

"Ryu!" Rain yelled as he throw his beam boomerang to stun the enemy. Rain appeared in front of him while trying to force his machine to leave the battlefield. Rain noticed that his machine was completely scraped. The only thing that managed to survive the attack was the cockpit. Rain grunted as he began heading towards the Nirvana with his machine in tow. The Nirvana clone appeared to stop him from getting any further, and charged its core again, to fire at them. Rain raised his shield in hopes of blocking the attack.

A large explosion rocked the battlefield. For those who were to far away to see the blast, they played it off as nothing more than a large carrier going down again. But for those close enough to see the blast, they were left stunned by its sudden appearance. For Rain and Ryu, they didn't know what had happened. Rain deactivated the blue barrier around his shield while lowering to see what was in front of him. He wasn't expecting to see a golden mobile suit, but that was what was in front of him.

"Nee-chan?" Rain whispered.

Zoey's face, though she was wearing her flight suit, appeared on screen. Rain figured she was smiling when she said, "Nice to see you again, Rain. You had us worried for a while until when Meia told me about what happened to you in the Justice, but I can see you're doing just fine," as she turned Akatsuki to face him. Rain smiled as he nodded. "Ryu, I can't believe you of all people were beaten so easily. My you've gotten rusty. Do I need to beat you back into shape?" She questioned. Ryu whished he still had both of Destiny's arms, or one of them, so he could flip her off since his screens were messed up.

"Thanks for saving us, Sis. I was really worried there for a minute." Rain admitted while rubbing the back of his head.

"I didn't save you." Zoey said. Rain looked at her in confusion.

(-)

"We've detected a large fleet directly bellow the battlefield!" Amarone cried. Her attention was quickly drawn to the three stunned AI's that seemed to have their jaws hanging loosely.

"I'll be God damned." Spark whispered.

"I can't believe he's actually here." Dale stated.

"I guess miracles are about today." Maya mussed.

For those on the bridge of the Nirvana, they became completely confused. They stared at the three AI's before Ezra's loud gasp caught their attention. "I don't believe it." She whispered. Everyone no turned to look at a smiling Ezra. "It's the Freedom. The Freedom has reappeared on our radars!" She yelled. Everyone began checking their screens to see the Freedom's signal on their screens.

"Correction…" Gascgone appeared on screen with a large grin on her face.

"Gascgone…" Magno began.

"…that would be the X20A Strike Freedom." She continued as though she hadn't been interrupted. Everyone was now confused. She knew something they didn't and the fact that she came back with Raider was the only explanation for as to how she knew what it was.

"You wouldn't by any chance happen to know the pilot, now would you?" Magno inquired with a grin on her face.

"I'm surprised you can't guess." Gascgone said with a grin. "He's someone that would follow Meia into the pits of hell, just to be by her side." Everyone on the bridge, and for those that were listening to the chatter, instantly knew who it was. That was quickly confirmed as Alex's smiling face, though hidden by his strange mask he still seemed to wear, appeared on screen.

"Do you know how long I've been searching for you? It's bad enough that you all thought I was dead, but did you really think I'd leave you without, trying to get into Meia's pants one last time?" Alex inquired.

"MR. SUIT/DEMON/ALEX/NII-SAN!" Meia, Rain, Dita, Jura, Barnette, and Hibiki yelled in unison.

"The one and only." Alex chirped as the Strike Freedom appeared beside them on the battlefield, still attached to the METEOR System. "Did you really think I was dead?" Alex asked with a grin.

"I can't believe you're actually alive!" Meia gasped with tears in her eyes.

"I told you that I'd come back, didn't I?" Meia nodded. "You should know me, whenever I make a promise…"

"…you keep it." Meia whispered.

Alex nodded with a smile. His eyes instantly iced over, showing all that he was battle ready again. That couldn't have been more true after he said, "Now, for you bastards. Stay the hell away from my family and friends!" with his weapons firing at everything that was targeted. No one had ever seen such a sight in their lives. Not even the Taraaku could believe it. The sky was littered with millions of explosions, all from a single machine that had appeared out of nowhere. "Justice, pick up your METEOR and follow me. We've got a battle to finish." Alex ordered with a cold tone in his voice.

"METEOR, lift off!" Cole ordered after he took control of the Eternal. The Infinite Justice appeared in front of the floating white ship to attach the mech to it. As the machine latched together, Rain looked up with iced over eyes towards the enemy.

"All fighters commence attack on the first Flag Ship! Blood, see what you and your boys can do about the second!" Alex ordered.

"Yes sir." Blood replied. "Alright, everyone form up, follow my lead." He ordered as hundreds of fighter fell behind him.

"Get ready to punch straight towards the enemy, Rain. We're going to clear a way for the big guns." Alex stated. Rain nodded his METEOR appeared beside Alex's METEOR. The two brothers activated every weapon on their ship while a targeting screen appeared before them. Wing Zero and Akatsuki appeared beside them, readying their weapons. "Fire!" Alex yelled. The four machines fired at the enemy fleet, tearing everything apart. The Triple Barrel Buster rifle tore a hole through the top of the first Harvest Flag Ship while destroying hundreds of Cube Types, clones, and Carriers. Akatsuki's six Dragoon Blasters tore multiple enemy units apart. The two METEOR enhanced units tore everything apart. The way was clear for the four Gundams, Vandread Meia, Dita, Varoa, Barnette, and Jura.

(-)

A display appeared on screen of the Nirvana, showing a large ship that was about to break through the Magnetic Storm. "It's confirmed, another Harvest Flag Ship has appeared inside the Magnetic Storm." Amarone stated.

"That's not a Harvest Flag Ship!" Rabat's face appeared on screen. "That's things used for destroying planets they no longer need. That's the Big Boy!" He added.

"The Big Boy?" BC asked with a trace of fear in her voice.

(-)

"So that's the top dog!" Hibiki grinned. "It's not so scary!" Vandread Meia began to head towards Jura's Dread. A flash of light had Vandread Jura being born.

"Ugh, it's so ugly!" Varoa said in disgust.

"Oh shut up! Come on everyone, we're going to burst right through them!" Jura yelled as she put up a barrier around the combination while flying straight for the new arrival. A few Cubes tried to get through it, but found the barrier to be stronger than what they thought, and paid with their lives.

The new arrival's front opened up like a split mouth while charging up a core before firing at the combination.

"All ships, evasive action!" Meia yelled. The combination fought the red blast for a few seconds before it punched through the shield, and separated them. The two mechs went sailing in different directions. Barnette and Rain appeared in front of Jura while Alex appeared in front of Hibiki, all firing their weapons at the enemy units that tried to make good use of their stunned mechs.

"Jura, are you alright?" Barnette asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Jura replied.

"Damn you!" Hibiki screamed.

"Now it's time, for Vandread Pyoro. Pyoro." Pyoro stated.

"Quit it, that's a weird name." Hibiki sneered.

"I like it." Pyoro replied. The four Pexis affected units combined in a flash of light. Alex stared in shock at the new combination, not really believing what he saw. A smile formed on his face as he watched them head towards the new ship while slicing any enemy that got close to them apart.

(-)

"Damn that's impressive." Ryu remarked as he walked onto the bridge of the Nirvana. Misty looked at him with stunned eyes. He was without a shirt, but his chest and head were bandaged. His strange sea green eyes shinned with hope as he looked at the Super Vandread fight its way through the enemy ranks. "Spark, do we have any machines I could use?"

"The Dominion has nothing left." Spark replied, while shaking his head. "I'm truly sorry for the bad news I guess."

"Nah, I've been injured and Doc doesn't want me returning anyway." He said sadly as he placed a hand over his wounded chest. "Besides, with Alex back, I'm sure they won't need me out there." He whispered.

"You did good little one." Magno said with a smile. Ryu turned to her with a smile on his face. "You managed to take down six Nirvana clones, something I doubt Rain could have done."

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" He replied. He turned, to look at the battlefield with a sad smile on his face. _But we still have to win this fight. We need to win this fight to show Earth that they can't do this anymore. _

(-)

The Super Vandread sliced several clones in half as it continued to charge towards the new arrival. The strange cannon charged up to fire again. This time however, Jura, enraged that her combination had been cut short on stage time, slammed a fist down on her control pad while screaming, "Get the hell out of our way!" as her eight shield emitters appeared in front of them, glowing blue before shooting one solid beam of energy at the red beam. The two beams struggled for a few seconds before pushing through it and crashing into the new ship, destroying it.

"Did we get it?" Hibiki whispered. As the large flames disappeared, the new arrival was revealed to be extremely damaged. Three large pillars formed a triangle around it a red web like barrier.

_Greetings to those who can die, from those who can not. _


	15. Saving the best for last

I don't own Vandread.

Chapter 15 Saving the best for last

The Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice were still attached to the METORE unit and flying away from a large Harvest Flag Ship. Wing Zero, Akatsuki, two squadrons of Double Zeta mobile suits, one squadron of Zeta mobile suits, half a squadron of Murasame's, four squadrons of Dread units, and two squadrons of Vanguards were fleeing the destruction of the Harvest Flag Ship. As soon as they were away, it finished exploding into tiny pieces thanks to a tiny red mech that was piloted by the ever trigger happy Utan that breathed a big sigh of happiness.

"Jezz, biggest waist of money in the whole universe." Rabat moaned.

"Looking for some bullets? I'll sell them to you cheap." Gascgone asked.

Rabat looked at her with sad eyes. "Come on lady, you know I need them." Rabat grumbled. Gascgone smiled as sirens began screaming. The two looked as thousands of little red beams were shot in multiple directions, littering the battlefield with thousands of explosions. The red beams pounded several of its crafts. The Lunar fleet watched as one third of their fleet was destroyed. The Melanos fleet found themselves staring at the remaining fourth of their fleet. The Mejarru fleet commander stared at the remaining two thirds of their fleet. The Smuggler Union was lucky that most of their fleet was behind Gascgone's golden prize which took the most of it, but was thankful for its thick hull. The Taraaku fleet was crippled badly, losing half of their fleet. The Todoroki was lucky to have been behind the Nirvana while the Paraiso was saved by the Akatsuki's protective barriers.

"Son of a bitch." Rain whispered.

"Damn it all!" Zoey shouted as she pulled her Dragoon Packs back. "How in the hell did that thing…"

"It doesn't matter!" Alex shouted as he appeared in front of the pilots to cover them. "We have to take down the last Flag Ship! If we can take that thing out, we can win this!" He shouted.

"What's that red thing over there?!" Varoa asked.

"Pay attention Varoa! We need to head back and defend the Nirvana! Let Meia and the others deal with it!" Barnette shouted.

"Rodger!" She stammered.

"Rain, let's go." Alex ordered as he left the METEOR unit. The Infinite Justice left its own METEOR to follow, Akatsuki, Wing Zero, Strike Freedom, and DeathScythe Hell towards the last Flag Ship.

"Alex, take your team to the take out the last Flag Ship! You have to take it down!" Asaugi ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" Alex replied. "Rain, Zoey, Raider, let's hit that ship! We need to take it down!" Alex told them.

(-)

The Nirvana rocked hard from the surprise attack from the new arrival. They were lucky to have deployed their Pexis Shield just before the attack hit them, taking no damage. As the attack hit, everyone was thrown to the ground, momentarily stunned by the power.

"Hold her steady! All sections report damage control!" BC ordered.

"_You want status, she's not responding… at all!" _Bart cried. Red images from within his the confines of his chamber, each one screaming at him.

"No doubt about it! What ever you did, you definitely pissed off the folks from Earth in a big way." Rabat's face appeared on screen.

"You don't say." BC mussed.

(-)

The Super Vandread lowered its protective barrier as they continued to glare at the large machine before them. "Jezz, they sure got a nasty way of saying hello." Hibiki grumbled.

"I wonder why the Pexis from Earth are all red." Dita whispered.

"The Pexis is a being that changes." Pyoro's egg carton eyes appeared in front of Dita and Hibiki. "It reflects the hearts of those who touch it. Red is the color of danger; a closed heart that does not accept others."

"A closed heart…" Meia whispered.

"…that doesn't except others." Jura finished.

Hibiki growled at the things, feeling a pair of eyes on his form from inside the ship. The Super Vandread slammed their hands together to pull out its sword. "You may not want to except us, but you're going to have to whether you like it or not!" The combination charged towards the large monster while slicing several clones and Egg Carriers along the way. The enemy ship replied by sending another salvo of energy at the combination, disassembling it as it hit. The three Dread units went flying backwards while Hibiki's golden Vanguard quickly stabilized. "Not yet you don't!" Hibiki sailed towards the red barrier while bringing out his sword. He plunged his weapon into the barrier, fighting to break through. The barrier finally caved in, allowing Hibiki entrance while his machine crashed into the core of the ship.

"Mr. Alien!" Dita cried. The three Dreads began heading for the barrier, hoping to break through it, but a web like barrier snagged them as they bounced off.

"What is this pressure?" Jura gasped.

"Is this also some power of the Pexis?!" Meia yelled.

"Mr. Alien, please answer me!" Dita cried.

(-)

Hibiki lay on the ground, slightly dazed and confused as he slowly came back to his senses. Shaking the thought of sleep from his mind, he looked up to see a small boy with blond hair sitting in a large crystal like thrown.

"Are you… an Earthling?" Hibiki questioned. The boy released a red pulse from his crimson red eyes, slamming him back to the hard ground. "You bastard." Hibiki grunted.

"_Everything is pointless."_

Three red bubble like screens appeared above Hibiki, each one containing the image of the three Pexis infected women. "Mr. Alien!" Dita cried as she saw him lying on the ground.

"Oh, it's you!" Hibiki snapped.

"Was that your voice I just heard?" Meia questioned.

"_Pexis seems to have an interest in you. You seem to have acquired peculiar powers by synchronizing with Pexis."_

"Where are we?" Jura questioned.

"Mr. Alien, are you alright?" Dita repeated.

"Yeah, somehow." He moaned as he fought to get back up.

"_You are all… incomplete." _

"Incomplete? I'll tear you apart for treating people this way!" Hibiki stated as he finally managed to get on his hands and knees. The boy once again released a small wave of red energy that sent Hibiki crashing to the ground while snapping his left arm. Hibiki yelled in pain as he felt his arm break.

"_Zen, leader of Taraaku, Annie, leader of Mejarru; do to your efforts, Earth is eternal. Thank you." _

"What's so eternal?! He's making it all up!" Misty shouted.

"_It's because of our existence that you were even born. Isn't only proper that you should do everything for our benefit? But you continue to get in our way throughout the universe. At this rate, Earth will fall to ruin. That is why we chose the best method for Earth's prosperity. We are all children of Earth; we must not parish, compared to those unfortunates who are not allowed to die. You should be happy that you are able to die. You shall continue to live… as a part of us. Isn't this… the greatest virtue for a human being? To altruistically die for the sake of another, it's not just anyone who can do that for the sake of another. All of you were born with that destiny, rejoice in your destiny."_

(-)

"Aw man he's more of a chatter box than I am, but he's rotten." Bart moaned inside his Chamber.

(-)

"To save the Earth?" Celtic questioned. Misty looked over at her in shock. "Now that you mention it…"

"Hey wait a minute! Don't be so pessimistic." Misty said. She looked at her friend and crew as they started crying. "Come on guys…" She pleaded.

"No. That's not it!" Dita shouted. Misty looked up in surprise. "Call it what you like, but it's nothing more than cold blooded murder! You're not just taking away their freedoms; you're taking away their right to exist!"

"_Come now little one, open your heart. This future contains beauty even in its simplicity. Our methods insure the existence of human kind. It is the one and only solution. You must open your hearts to it."_

"No! No! You're wrong!" Dita stated.

"_What?!"_

"Maybe I'm silly… and clumsy, but there's no one who treasures peoples feelings more than I do. I'd happily give my life and my body the ones I care about. But that's only because it's my choice, and only because of how I feel about them. There's a world of difference between having someone like you just take it from them." Dita told him.

"Dita… that was magnificent." Jura began. "You listen hear, it doesn't matter how much power you have or how important you think you are. You'll never have what it takes to truly open up someone's heart."

"Regardless of what happens, our lives are finite." Meia started. "We all know that we will one day grow old, and that someday our lives will end. That's why we try to live each day to the fullest. That's why we keep stumbling on by trial and error. But it isn't just for ourselves, it's to leave some signposts for those that will follow in our footsteps. To cowards, to cling to where they are, and have given up on trying to move forward. There's no way to see how bright the future is, even though it's just around the corner."

(-)

Rabat broke into large fits of laughter. "Oh… oh that's good! These guys are so entertaining!"

(-)

"_Believing in the future is one of the ideals of the weak, now you're beginning to bore me." _

"What an irritating little brat!" Pyoro exclaimed.

Hibiki started laughing like a mad man. Everyone had their eyes on him as he continued to laugh his strange laugh. "Damn it." Hibiki whispered as he stopped his strange laughing. His hand snapped out, pressing hard on the ground as he fought to stand back up. "I just have to say… how ridicules it is… now that I understand." He slowly began to rise. "Even though I might have sounded real mature, I gotta admit… that I'm still afraid. I'm actually still trembling with the fear of losing. But now I finally see… what I really need to conquer is myself. It's not the enemy in front of me… IT'S ME AND MY FEAR!" Hibiki shouted as he finally sat up with a grin on his face.

The little boy started laughing. _"You still have much to learn." _

Hibiki slammed his foot down while saying, "Ha, you think you're winning the game here, but the same goes for you right?" with a smile on his face. The boy released another force of energy, hoping to knock him down. Hibiki stood tall as he fought to keep his head held high. "You guys are scared too. That's why you keep digging up all these stupid reason to convince yourselves… am I right? But for all that, there's a big difference between you and me… do you know what it is?" Hibiki asked. The boy just glared at him. "The difference is that I've got myself a bunch of true friends! I've got people who believe in me, even when I get like this, people that treat me like family and scold me when I do something wrong. But you're all alone. And I'm not afraid of some weakling who can't even listen to his own heart. Compared to overcoming my own fears… taking care of you is a joke!"

(-)

The Pexis inside the Nirvana began shinning with renewed hope.

(-)

"_I… truly…_hate you!" The boy yelled as his eyes shinned brightly. Hibiki was suddenly hit by a wave of red in the form of an X, spilling his blood on the ground. Everyone gasped as Hibiki stood up, covered from head to toe in his blood.

"MR. ALIEN!" Dita gasped.

"_You… should go away!" _Hibiki glared at the boy as he forced him from his chamber, propelling him into the cockpit of his Vanguard.

(-)

A large explosion once again, rocked the battlefield as the Hibiki's machine was thrown back out into space, burnt, and battered.

"Mr. Alien!" Dita cried as his machine slowly began to regain its bearings.

"Damn you!" Hibiki cursed. Another explosion rocked the foundation of the large ship as its core broke free of the ship, heading towards the Magnetic Storm. "Oh yeah, so you're gonna run?!" Hibiki mocked.

"_Everyone must die!" _

Red lightning began shooting from the mouth of the ship as a small red spiral appeared in where the core once was.

"What is that?" BC gasped.

"That doesn't look so good." Rabat stated with wide eyes.

"I'm not going to let you guy do whatever you want anymore!" Hibiki yelled as he flew towards the spinning vortex of death. The same red shield engulfed him as soon as he entered into the zone, attempting to protect whatever it was about to do from harm.

"Mr. Alien!" Dita cried as she watched helplessly from the confines of her Dread.

(-)

"Ow that's bad." Parfait trembled as she radioed the bridge. Her face appeared on screen next to an image of their Pexis that was acting rather strange. "Captain… right now the Pexis is reacting the same way it did when we were thrown off into another sector!" She yelled.

"What do you mean?" Magno questioned.

"That time a wormhole was opened up by the Pexis's own self-preservation instincts. It's so suprising that it would react the same way." BC commented.

"But this isn't self-preservation!" Pyoro exclaimed as he appeared on screen in front of a mad Jura. "They're trying to use the energy you make, to create a wormhole that will tangle up time and space!"

"I don't get it." Ryu whispered.

"THEY'RE TRYING TO BLOW UP EVERYTHING IN THIS ENTIRE GALEXY!" Pyoro stated. Everyone fell into the temptation of fear as the thought of death seeped into their minds.

"_There's nowhere to run!" _Bart cried.

"Well that's just great!" Magno huffed. "They certainly succeeded in trying to make the Pexis a blood thirsty monster!" She grumbled.

(-)

"Hibiki!" Jura cried as the three Dreads fired at the shield that was protecting the strange bomb.

"Damn it! It's that same shield again!" Meia cursed.

(-)

Hibiki struggled to remain in control of his machine as he fought the power of the wormhole that he was trying so desperately to close. His four energy grappling hooks were already starting to break under the pressure of his machine and the pull of the wormhole.

"I won't… I won't let you do it!" Hibiki stated as his single arm fought to pull the whole together. "In the end, I'd have to say there were things I could have done better, but I get it… I finally get it Gramps. Even if I die right here, so long as they're alive, I'll continue to live inside each and everyone of there hearts. Isn't that right, Partner?!"

"It doesn't have to be that way!" Dita yelled as she flew her Dread directly into the barrier. Hibiki turned to see the familiar blue Dread trying desperately to push through the force field.

"Dita, stop it!" Meia, Pyoro, and Jura ordered.

"No you fool, stay away from here!" Hibiki shouted.

"I know... I finally understand too, Mr. Alien." Dita whispered she continued to force her machine to break through the barrier. "I'm stupid and rest of the world is just so complicated. But when it's about you Mr. Alien, I understand perfectly. Right now your fighting to protect all of us. And that's why I'm going to protect you Mr. Alien. Because… I love you Mr. Alien. That's why… I'll do anything to protect you Hibiki!" She yelled.

"Don't do it Dita!" Hibiki shouted as he watched her Dread slowly punch through the barrier. The area was instantly littered with thousands of white glowing stars and one major explosion. Everyone turned their eyes away from the sight, knowing she was gone. Pyoro's gasp had everyone turning back to the sight, to see the familiar Blue Giant, holding itself up, in an attempt to close the barrier. "You idiot, why'd you go an do a thing like that?" Hibiki moaned as Dita tied a handkerchief around their wrist. The green orb began to shin brightly, showing that it was activated. The left arm instantly sprang to life, slamming its golden wrist protecter into the side of the core.

"We're stronger together than we could ever be alone. Don't you realize that?" Dita questioned with a grin.

"Ow you… when did you become so hopeless?" Hibiki mumbled with a half grin. For some reason, if he died, he wouldn't mind spending it with her.

"Hibiki, I just wanna hear you say my name." She whispered. Hibiki sat back as she said, "Come, just this once, please?" while giving him a puppy dog eye treatment.

"Ow come on, now's not the time for something like this." He gasped.

"Come on just once." She pleaded again.

"Hey guys." Jura began. Hibiki and Dita looked back to see Meia and Jura's Dreads floating behind them. "That's heart warming and all, but can we get back to business?" She questioned.

"Let's combine to kill it with one shot from Vandread Pyoro!" Pyoro chimmed.

"Jezz, each and every one of you." Hibiki chuckled.

A large explosion of blue energy had the barrier gone as Super Vandread appeared inside the gate with its shield activated, aiming to plug up the hole that was slowly getting bigger.

(-)

"Supper Vandread has successfully entered the gate… it's holding up a shield now." Belvedere announced. Magno gripped her heart that quickly began screaming in pain.

"There's a huge dormant energy appearing inside the gate!" Celtic added.

"It's putting all five of them under intense pressure!" Amarone added.

"Come on you guys, you can do it." Ryu whispered.

(-)

Inside the Super Vandread, the team of five pushed hard to keep the shield up. They were using all the power the Pexis had to offer for once, as they fought to keep their future alive. The power of the Pexis illuminated the cockpit, showing that it too wanted to help out as best it could. The team continued to push, pouring everything they had into keeping the shield up as the gate continued to open up, increasing its pull. A single shield emitter got sucked into the void, pulling everything that was in rang of the opening, into the shield to swallow it whole in the void.

"Damn you!" Hibiki cursed as he released more shield emitters to replace and reinforce the already damaged ones.

"_Be careful, don't overdo it!" _BC warned them.

Hibiki chuckled at her words while saying, "Overdo it? That's only a problem for people who don't have enough breathing room," as the room began to shine even brighter.

No matter how big or how strong the barrier was however, more and more ships and machines were pulled through any opening that was allowing the large void to suck them into. Raider and Gascgone were forced to watch as their golden prize was broken into tiny pieces before being sucked into the void. The men of Taraaku watched mobile suits, the people they once thought of as enemies from another world, helped push their ships to safety. The women of Mejarru watched as other mobile suits, including the Akatsuki, Justice, Wing Zero, and Strike Freedom pushed their ships, along with the help of the Taraaku Vanguards help, to safety.

"Captain, we need to turn back!" BC stated as she watched Rebecca's Paraiso leave battlefield for fear of being sucked in.

"NO! We're going to wait right here for those kids!" Magno stated. "So they don't get lost on the way home!" She added with a grin as she continued to clutch her chest.

The Super Vandread began having its own armor stripped clean of its chest, arms, and legs as it fought to keep the barrier up. The pilots all grunted under the strain the gravitational pull had on them.

"Hold on!" Hibiki shouted.

"Just think of our future." Meia suggested.

"…because we have to fight to defend it!" Jura added.

"And that's why… we can never give up!" Dita finished as she leaned back against Hibiki's chest.

"Pyoro-2!" Pyoro wailed.

A bright light began to emit from the confines of Super Vandread, blinding those that were close enough to see it. Its blue core was the bright light that was causing it, showing that it was down to its last bit of strength.

"Damn it." Hibiki whispered as he began to breathe heavily.

"Please, no!" Dita cried. The left orb began to shin brightly, as if hearing their plea.

_Friends, things to be cherished; we must protect our friends. _Pyoro told the Pexis.

The wings of the Nirvana instantly began shinning brightly before exploding to catch the Super Vandread as it slowly began to lower its shield. The strange light wrapped around them, sending large tendrils out into the core of the ship, destroying it in one shot while the strange tendrils continued racing out, until hitting the escaping core. The little boy inside the core gasped as death took him. The sight of the explosion and the power of the Pexis made the explosion look like a large blooming flower. Everyone began crying out in joy as they saw no more enemies on their scanners.

For the pilots inside the Super Vandread, they awoke to a strange sight of shinning particuls that fell around their machine. "What… is this?" Meia questioned slowly.

"What the…" Jura muttered.

The Super Vandread was trapped inside some kind of a cocoon that was emitted from the wings of the Nirvana. "What's going on?" Dita questioned.

"It's the Pexis." Pyoro informed them.

"Yeah, it is." Hibiki said with a smile.

"That means it truly is one of our friends." Meia told them with a smile.

"Thank you." Dita whispered.

A moment of silence overcame them as they looked at the battlefield. Hibiki laughed slightly as he leaned back. "That means we won. We protected our future." He told them.

"What makes you so somber? That's not like you." Jura asked as she turned to face him.

Hibiki chuckled as he raised his right hand to scratch the back of his head. "I've made enough snotty comments for awhile; you won't get anymore out of me." He informed her. Dita smiled as she raised her hands in joy, momentarily forgetting that she was still tied to Hibiki's broken arm. Hibiki gasped in pain as he snapped, "You idiot, why are we all tied up!" while wincing in pain again as she lowered her arm back down to the glow green orb.

"Because…" Dita began.

"Are you all ready?" Meia interrupted them. "I think it's time to head home." She told them as she caught sight of the Strike Freedom near the Eternal, along side the Infinite Justice, HeavyArms Kai, Sandrock Kai, DeathScythe Hell, Nataku, Akatsuki, and Wing Zero.

"Yeah, let's go." Hibiki agreed.

(-)

Everyone on the bridge of the Nirvana gasped at the sight before them as the Super Vandread turned around, standing victorious inside the glowing cocoon. Misty hugged Ryu, causing him to wince in pain.

Bart began shaking his hands as he stared at them with crying eyes while stating, "Good because I can't take anymore of this," with streams of water flowing from his eyes.

"Ow brother." BC laughed as she shook her head.

Magno tapped her chest with a grin as she said, "I can't go dieing on these kids just yet, they're still to reckless," while looking down at her crew.

"All Lunar ships are to return to the Lunar colonies, except for the Eternal!" Asaugi ordered.

"Now THAT'S, a postcard." Barnette stated.

"Ow please, that's not a postcard." Rain laughed as Barnette's Dread flew beside his.

"What are you two talking about?" Alex questioned.

"Before me and Barnette started dating, I made a joke about…" Rain began before he realized what he said and clasped his hands over his mouth.

"You're dating Barnette?" Alex joked. "Nice choice, she's right up your ally." Alex laughed. "Though, I am a little surprised about what you called…"

"Color!" Raider yelled, completely ruining the moment. It took the entire Gundam team two seconds to realize what he was doing while they took aim at his Gundam. "I like the color ones." Raider said without paying any attention to the weapons that were pointed his way.

Everyone watched as the massive fleet began heading back to their respective homes. The Smugglers were given a five minute head start while the Raider's pirate crew, known as the Shadow Pirates of Hell, began heading back to their respective hide out.

(-)

The Nirvana, Paraiso, and Eternal sat at the pirate hideout. Its pilots began disembarking from their machines, but none were fasted than those of the Nirvana crew as they ran towards the hanger inside the Eternal. Once everyone was gathered, the pilots slowly stepped from their machines. Zoey stepped out first, clad in her flight suit, though she had removed her helmet. Meia smiled at the sight of Zoey along side with Rain who instantly went into her arms, hugging her tightly. Zoey patted his head before playing with his ears, much to his displeasure. The next to exit was Blood along side with Suki. Suki was wearing a completely red suit with a black dragon wrapping around her leg and up to the right side of her helmet. Willow and Raider exited next. Raider was without his coat, showing off a large black flame tattoo that went up his left arm while his right had a red one. Willow was wearing a sand colored suit like the others, and like the other pilots that were wearing theirs, she already had her helmet off, showing that she still wore a mask. Gascgone ran into Raider's arms, which earned a large whistle of surprise from Rain and Barnette. Asaugi was the next to appear, showing her white suit with black angel wings tattooed onto the back of it. Asaugi smiled as she walked over to Rain and Barnette.

"So this is the woman that Zoey told me about." She stated while hugging Rain and Barnette. "I couldn't be any happier to see my two boys alive and with someone they care for." She cried as she released them.

Alex soon appeared out of the cockpit of the Strike Freedom. He walked slowly towards Meia. His eyes seemed to show sadness and confusion at the same time. Meia also walked towards him at the same speed, wondering what was on his mind. She wanted to know just how he survived, but at the same time, wanted to kill him for making her think he was dead. The two stopped in front of each other, separated by only two feet. They just stared at each other, not knowing what to say or do. Everyone watched with worried eyes at their reaction to seeing each other again.

"I found you." Alex whispered with a grin hidden by his mask. Meia ran into his arms while yanking his mask down to kiss him on the lips. Everyone smiled and awed at the sight. Duerro and Paiway began writing down notes in their diaries, earning a laugh from Bart and BC, who were in each others arms at the moment. Such a moment would want to be remembered by Asaugi, so it came as no surprise when she pulled out a camera from nowhere to take a picture of the two pilots in each others arms, kissing.

As they separated, Meia looked him in the eyes with tears in hers. She was surprised to see Alex just smiled back at her. "I though you had left me." She whispered.

"Meia, I told you once before. Whenever I make a promise…"

"…you keep it." She finished as she held onto him tightly. Alex began rubbing her back to assure her that she wasn't dreaming. Meia just cried in his arms as she slowly began to accept that he was real. Meia smiled evilly as she pulled him into a rough kiss. Once she was finished kissing him, Alex got a look of an evil glint in her eyes. "You've been a bad boy, and I need to punish you." She told him as she began dragging off.

Rain started chuckling as he said, "I feel really sorry for those that have to sleep around you two tonight," as his tail wrapped around Barnette's waist, causing her to blush as she laid her head on his shoulders.

"Look whose talking! I feel sorry for the people that have to sleep around you two." Meia shot back. Raider looked up from his book with a perverted grin on his face.

"Ow really!" Asaugi laughed. Rain gulped as she walked back over to him, bent over to look at him on eye level, and smile. "Just don't make too much noise, or Zoey might try to get in with you." She warned.

"Na, I've sworn of threesomes for awhile." Zoey told them with a grin. Ryu started laughing hysterical. "What's so funny?"

"I remember the last time you did that, considering the fact that you did it right next to my house." He told her while shooting her an annoyed glare.

"Were you watching us?" She asked seductively. Ryu smiled as he raised his hands up to show her he was unarmed. "Nice to see you learned something from watching me shoot that idiot you use to hang out with." She mumbled.

As everyone began to laugh at the scene before them, Meia and Alex slipped away to her room. Barnette and Rain slipped away next as everyone continued to laugh at the stories that Asaugi began telling about Rain, Zoey, and Alex. Gascgone and Raider just walked out with BC and Bart.

(-)

The next two days were really fun. Jura insisted that they had a major party, something that everyone agreed to without a second thought. They partied for a whole two days, with the women not caring about their old beliefs. Some of the women found quick friendships with certain men. The women that liked shooting guns were quickly attached to Blood after having a quick gun slinging contest. For those that liked the peaceful type, found Ryu to be rather fun. Despite his first appearance, he was actually really cool in the fact that he was a peace lover that loved making others smile. The other men weren't seen since they had yet to leave their room.

Alex's breathing was heavy and short. He and Meia had yet to stop on his "Punishment" which was Meia demanding sex from him for the whole two days without rest. Surprisingly, Meia was able to keep going, long after one day. Meia was lying on top of him, smiling as he rubbed her back.

"If this is my punishment for being dead for nearly five months, I like it." Alex finally spoke. He rubbed his old necklace that lay draped around her neck. "I still can't believe that Rain would actually call you his sister."

"I can't believe it either, but I like the thought of having a little brother." Meia replied as she began playing with his chest.

"So, you've had Dale with you for some time…" Meia looked up at him with a smile on her face. "Did you get a chance to play him at Chess?"

"Yes, and I beat him." She told him with a grin as she rolled off his chest. "It took me two weeks to beat him. He got a little pissed when I beat him, but I think he got over it after two days."

"That's good to hear." Meia rolled back over onto his chest with a grin. Alex smiled as she kissed him roughly on the lips. As they parted, she licked her lips while saying, "Ready for round… whatever round we're on?" Alex groaned as she reached under the thin sheets to get ready for the same damn thing they had done for two days straight.

"Can't we go get something to eat?" He whined.

"You're being punished." She told him with closed eyes.

(-)

Barnette smiled as she played with Rain's ears. Rain smiled, for once allowing someone to actually play with his ears. Rain had never allowed anyone to play with his ears, except for Barnette. Both teens were resting from their last long period of fun in bed, and just cuddling at the moment.

"I can't believe how much fun that is, still." Barnette gasped as she stopped playing with his ears to roll onto his chest. Rain smirked as she licked his cheek for no reason. Rain smiled as he kissed her on the lips.

"I prefer kisses, rather than when you lick me for no reason." He stated as he rolled with her to be on top. Barnette gasped at the sudden change, but smiled as he kissed her again while holding himself up above her, making sure to not put all his weight on her.

"I wonder how much longer it's going to be until your mother comes in to see what we're doing." Barnette questioned.

"Okaa-san never bothers me in my room back home. She won't disturb us." He replied while grinning as he forced her legs open. Barnette smiled as she felt a familiar sensation course through her body.

(-)

Raider and Gascgone were giggling like perverts. No one knew how it happened, but Raider had somehow turned Gascgone into a pervert, though not as bad as what others thought, but it was enough to make Raider happy. Both adults were reading their perverted books. Raider was reading his Prison Lesbian Stories, Volume 10 edition while Gascgone was reading the first book. Now it wasn't just the fact that they were reading the books that would have been funny as hell, it was the fact that they were still having sex while reading and talking at the same time.

"So, how many kids do you think Rain and Barnette 'ill have?" Gascgone asked she flipped a page on her book.

Raider flipped a page on his book while saying, "Two kids," while pushing her down flat on her back. Gascgone flipped a page as she moaned in bliss. "How many kids do you think Alex and Meia will have?" Raider flipped a page.

"Four kids. I can hear them over us." She remarked as she dropped her book and grabbed hold of her bed sheets. "Could you be a little gentler?" She moaned while biting her bottom lip.

Raider stopped and placed his book down on the night stand. He smiled as he lied down beside her. "I wonder how things are going with Asaugi, Blood, Suki, and Willow down on Taraaku. Asaugi told me that she took the four AI's to show proof of what we did when we first came. I think she's trying to make a treaty for them so that we can help them in changing their world."

"What about Mejarru?" Gascgone asked while rolling out of bed to get dressed. "What are you going to do about Mejarru?"

"Surprisingly enough, they still accepted us and our help, even after we never came back like we promised." Raider informed her. "The real question is what's going to happen to Rain. Asaugi told them that we took him, and there's a chance they may want him to come back or they'll force us to give him back. Asaugi's playing a dangerous game by trying to talk to them about a treaty right now since they want him back."

"I heard about that. I can't believe that they would almost fight you guys to take him back." Gascgone remarked as she finished getting dressed. "I hope that they don't try to use him as a weapon again, I can't stand to see Barnette not happy like she is now." She whispered.

"If they try to take him by force, they'll find out first hand on just why I'm called the, God of Death." Raider snarled as he finished getting dressed too. Raider smiled as he placed his book in his coat pocket. "Ready to go out and see the world?" He joked. Gascgone just shoved him outside.

(-)

A shuttle landed inside the hideout the next day. The main crew of the Nirvana, the Gundam pilots, and Rebecca all waited for Asaugi, Magno, and BC to exit the shuttle. As the shuttle doors opened, everyone smiled at the sight of the four AI's appearing before the shuttle doors were fully open. The three women were let down a ramp smiling at their welcoming crew.

"Welcome back. How was your meeting with Lord Grandpa and Grandma?" Rebecca asked.

Magno coughed to get everyone's attention. "The two planets have agreed to open communication with each other." Everyone began cheering for joy at the good news.

"As a result, we're going to be right in the middle." BC told them. "This area and the Nirvana will be of great importance to them. They've decided to use this area as a testing facility for men and women, to see if they can live together."

"That's the dumbest thing I've heard all day." Ryu snapped. "You can't force people to live together. Hell, no one can force me to go back and live with my insane family. Things just don't work that way." Misty nodded in agreement while the remaining Gundam pilots just started laughing.

"Dude, your family is a nut case just waiting to happen." Zoey laughed. Ryu shot her the finger and Zoey whipped out her firearm. Ryu instantly hid behind Misty, hoping that she wouldn't shoot him. Rain grabbed hold of her gun before she could pull the trigger, but unfortunately pulled it himself. What came out was nothing more than a stick with a flag on the end that had the word "Bang" written in black on it. "You actually thought I'd really shoot him?"

"Hibiki and the others are going back to Taraaku to get things started. They'll be selecting some suitable men for this study." BC finished.

"You can count me in!" Bart chimed.

"So when do we go?" Duerro asked.

"Right now actually. This shuttle is the one we'll be using." BC told them. Everyone sighed as they looked back at the four Taraaku boys.

"Screw you, I'm not going." Rain stated flatly.

"About that, Taraaku has agreed to let me keep you. They don't want Alex to shoot down another colony anytime soon. They've also told me to tell you that your father passed away just two years ago. They said he died of old age." Asaugi told him.

"So we have to leave now?" Hibiki asked.

"Yes. All your belongings are already on the ship. You're good to go." BC told them.

"You're kidding!" Dita protested.

"Hey, it's not like he's leaving forever you know. He'll be right back." Gascgone told her.

"But Mr. Alien hasn't had a chance to keep his promise to me yet." She told her.

Raider bent over to look her at eye level while saying, "What promise?" as he looked over at Hibiki, who had just turned about three shades of red in two seconds.

"He promised to go play in Dita's room." Parfait answered.

Raider fell on the floor laughing, which earned him, a good kick to the back, from a slightly annoyed Blood. "Ow jezz the back of my leg." Blood kicked him again. "The back of my back!" Suki and Asaugi both kicked him hard in the gut. "The front of stomach!" He yelled as he doubled over.

"Oh shit, I've got such ideas in my head." Misty whispered to Ryu who nodded instantly.

Hibiki picked up his bags with his good arm since his other was in a sling at the moment. Duerro and Zoey had both told him that it would take a few weeks to heal. Duerro had found it odd that a woman of her stature, and strange personality would actually be a doctor, but she was. Hibiki stopped short as Jura appeared in front of them with a serious expression on her face.

"Doctor," Parfait sang, causing said person, along with the other two men from Taraaku to turn and watch as she walked up to Duerro with a smile. "Make sure you come back real soon. One of your patients is a real hand full."

"Yes, I'll do that." Duerro replied with a grin. Paiway appeared between the two adults with a grin on her face as she held up Kit and Kero.

"Well, see you real soon." She told them while making the assorted noises for each animal.

"Paiway, what are you doing?" Parfait asked.

"Ow, it's been bugging me this whole time!" She yelled as she swatted away the hair covering the right side of his face. Gascgone ripped off someone's hat and started collecting all the money she just won.

"Happy now?" He muttered. His reply was two girls sighing one hell of a big sigh. Duerro just shook his head before heading down the ramp to see Jura, standing tall and serious for once.

"These men, that you'll be choosing, I'll be interviewing them before we make any decisions." Hibiki hung his head as she started listing off all the things they had to do. His head was jerked back up to the sound of her crying, something he had really ever heard unless he caused it. "Don't forget to call everyday…okay?" She cried. She instantly ran straight towards them. Hibiki and Bart both jumped out of the way to watch her embrace Duerro in a hug. "If you forget… even once… I'll never forgive you!" She cried. Duerro could feel the wrath of Parfait behind him as she breathed fire down his neck while swearing bloody murder. She had to be held back by several members of the crew and a few Gundam pilots.

"Ow don't worry about it." Barnette told them.

"Yeah, she just wants to get knocked up so she can have a kid. No big deal." Rain added with a grin.

"It figures." Hibiki mumbled. Rain and Barnette just laughed.

"Hibiki…" Meia walked up to him with a smile on her face, and her hand outstretched. "I'm glad to have met you. Thanks a lot." She told him. Hibiki smiled and took her hand, shaking her firmly.

Hibiki turned to see Alex beside her, smiling while shaking his head. "Demon, I'm glad I got to know what you went through for peace. It actually means a lot to me, to know that there are people out there like you that only want peace." Hibiki raised his hand for him to shake it.

"Sure thing, but are you ever going to stop calling me that stupid name?" Alex asked as she shook his hand. Hibiki smiled as he released it. "I could just break your other arm to make you start calling me by real name, you know?" He stated.

"Sure thing, Alex." He replied with grin.

"Come on. Now is not the time for you to be shy!" Misty stated as she dragged Dita up front towards Hibiki. "Hibiki, Dita has a favor to ask of you."

"A favor?" Hibiki asked.

"Stop beating around the bush Dita." Misty ordered.

"I… I wanted… wanted to hear you… say my name… just one time… before you left." She stammered.

All eyes fell on Hibiki's red face. Everyone was waiting for this. Everyone prayed for another miracle. "You must be the biggest fool in the entire universe!" Hibiki shouted, totally red from embarrassment. Blood grabbed hold of Asaugi's arm, knowing full well that she was about to kill him for his words. Asaugi glared at Hibiki, then Blood, and then back at Hibiki. "I can't do something like that without a reason. Besides, once I get back home, things are going to be really busy." He stated as he started walking towards the shuttle.

"Hibiki, come on! What are you waiting for? The departure is already behind schedule!" BC told him.

Hibiki looked back at Dita sadly, seeing the hurt in her eyes. "I guess that's it. I have to go." He told her sadly as he started walking towards the door. Blood and Raider were now having to hold a pissed off Suki, Willow, and Asaugi so that Hibiki could live to see tomorrow and possible have children. Dita just turned away, not wanting to watch him leave. She scolded herself for thinking of such a childish thing. Believing that he would actually… "Dita!" Dita's head snapped up. "Dita!" There it was again. Dita spun around to see Hibiki smiling at her with one arm out, waiting for her. "Let's go!" He yelled.

"Sure!" Dita began running down the ramp as fast as she could. Blood and Raider were quite pleased with the sight, knowing it was safe to release the three women. Alex and Meia snuggled close together while watching Dita jump into the air. Barnette placed her head on Rain's shoulder as Hibiki caught Dita in his arms to pull her into the shuttle. Everyone else just smiled at the sight.

Alex chuckled as he walked over to Magno. "So, are you ever going to tell me how you survived a nuclear explosion?" She asked.

Alex smiled as he pointed to Raider. "He saved me just seconds after the first explosion. The large blast you saw was me taking my hands off the N Jammer Canceller that shut down the nuclear core. However, the bastard fired again, but Raider made sure to stay behind the remains of the Freedom, which is why the whole thing exploded into tiny parts."

"I see." Magno said while glancing over towards Raider. "So what now? You obviously have to return to your colony."

"Yeah, that's why I'm going with him." Meia stated. "Alex, is it okay if I…"

"Sure, go ahead." Alex replied while glancing over at his confused mother.

Meia held up a small item, showing it to Magno. "Alex asked me to marry him after we ran back to my room when he got back." She explained. "He asked me to come live with him, on the colony. So I agreed."

"Well then, I guess I'll have to make more room at the house since when you two get hitched, I'll be wanting you to live with me." Asaugi informed them.

"What about Rain? What's going to happen to him?" Amarone questioned.

"I'm heading back with them. I don't really have a choice since Okaa-san's pretty pissed that I didn't keep up with my homework." Rain admitted. Barnette looked at him in shock. Rain's tail slowly wrapped around her waist. "Barnette, I was wondering if you wanted to return with me? If you don't want to, that's fine. I just wanted to know if you'd like to come stay with us." Rain opened his mouth to speak again, but Barnette shut him by kissing him. "I take it that means yes?"

"If you think I'm letting you leave without taking me, you're wrong." She whispered while wrapping her arms around his neck. A bright flash of light had the two glaring at Asaugi as she raised her famous camera, showing the picture to Magno.

"You want me to send you copies?" Asaugi inquired. Magno just chuckled while watching the couple's interact.

"What about Raider and Ryu?" Misty questioned. "Are they going to have to leave?"

"Actually no." Suki stated. Raider smiled. "Raider doesn't belong to our military anymore, so we have no say in what he does. The only reason he helped us in the fight was because Earth was crowding his business. He also saved Alex and Gascgone, and Gascgone ordered him to come help us."

"But what about Ryu?" She snapped.

"Ryu is his own person. I don't control him like I do my kids, though it would be nice to bring him back with us. He is a very strong child, and a very special one to a lot of people back home." Asaugi stated. Misty turned to Ryu with hope filled eyes. He was the only other kid on the ship that was her age, and he was the nicest of all the other pilots his age.

"I could use a vacation since I haven't had one in nearly two years. So I guess I'll stay for a month or two. I'll come back after the wedding, how's that sound?" Ryu announced. Misty smiled as she hugged him tightly.

"Sounds good, but that won't be for another three months since I have to be brought back to life. Mother went on ahead and classified me as KIA, and it's rather hard to bring back a dead man." Alex told them.

"So, when do you all leave?" Rebecca asked.

"We'll be leaving tomorrow. We need to get the four AI's back to the colony. They're needed for the birthing and reawakening for a new and old friend." Blood told them.

"Wait, which one are you waking up, and are you making a new one?" Rain asked.

"Yes we are." Suki stated while jumping up and down for joy. "I can't wait to see her again! I've missed her so much." She added.

The next day, everyone was gathered to watch the Eternal head out. Magno smiled as she watched the ship vanish into the Magnetic Storm. Raider, Ryu, and surprisingly enough, Zoey, walked up beside her while smiling. "To think the war started with that ship, and was silenced with the help of that ship again."

"I think the Nirvana did its fare share." Raider pointed out. "It showed your crew that men and women can get along."

"It helped a few of them find love." Ryu added.

"And now it will help push its crew and people, forward into a new world that they could only have dreamed of." Zoey finished.

A/N

I've decided to make one more stage. I would also like to say thanks to all the people that gave me ideas for the mass production suits, thank you. You were a lot of help for the ideas on mobile suits. Next in line is the fact that Alex was alive the whole time. I would like to give credit to anyone who actually figured out that he was still alive. Good job. Now, I'm fixing to start on the final stage, which is going to be called, Vandread Stage 3: Destiny's Impulse.


End file.
